Large area nanoparticle alignment by chemical lift-off lithography

Nanoparticle alignment on the substrate attracts considerable attention due to its wide application in different fields, such as mechanical control, small size electronics, bio/chemical sensing, molecular manipulation, and energy harvesting. However, precise nanoparticle positioning and deposition control with high fidelity are still challenging. Herein, a straightforward strategy for high quality nanoparticle-alignment by chemical lift-off lithography (CLL) is demonstrated. This technique creates high resolution self-assembled monolayer (SAM) chemical patterns on gold substrates, enabling nanoparticle-selective deposition and precise alignment. The fabricated nanoparticle arrangement geometries and dimensions are well-controllable in a large area. With proper nanoparticle surface functionality control and adequate substrate molecular manipulation, well-defined nanoparticle arrays with single-particle-wide alignment resolution are achieved.