Microcontact printing methods

Process of soft lithography (microcontacting printing method). 

The limited use of macromolecular inks can be attributed to poor wetting characteristics of PDMS surfaces by many polymers. A variety of approaches exist for patterning macromolecules on substrates using microcontact printing methods. 

Park H, Jeong H, Lee WE, Yoon KB, Oh CJ, Kwak G (2011) Positive-/negative-, erasable-/ immobilized-, mono-/multi-color fluorescence image patUaning of molecular-scale porous polymer film via a microcontact printing method using various chemical inks. Macromol Rapid Commun 32(4) 360-365. doi 10.1002/mare.201000623... 

Similar techniques have been used to generate finer resolution by microcontact printing methods. These methods are suitable for preparing features as small as 100 nm. The process involves forming a rubber stamp the surface of which is painted with a masking ink. The ink is transferred to the substrate and forms the pattern of the stamp on the substrate. The stamped areas can then be coated with soluble conducting polymers. In one example, poly-... 

Specifically, two different methods for the fabrication of these sensitive monolayers have been used. These methods differ in the technique used for the covalent attachment of the fluorescent probes (Fig. 2, step ii) while the first and the third fabrication steps (silanation (Fig. 2, step i) and binding molecule attachment (Fig. 2, step iii)) are identical for both methods. The first method is a solution-based procedure and the second method is a microcontact printing (/xCP) based procedure. In the solution-based procedure (Sect. 2.2.1), all... 

Grzybowski, B.A., Haag, R., Bowden, N., Whitesides, G.M., Generation of micrometer-sized patterns for microanalytical applications using a laser direct-write method and microcontact printing. Anal. Chem. 1998, 70(22), 4645-4652. 

Fig. 2 Methods for patterning alkanethiolates on gold (a) microcontact printing, (b) atomic force microscopy, (c) photo-deprotection, and (d) microfiuidic lithography...

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