Fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures by hole-mask colloidal lithography: Recent development

Hole-mask colloidal lithography (HCL) using self-assembled colloidal polymer nanospheres to create masks is a versatile technique to fabricate nanostructure arrays over wafer-scale areas. It is a powerful and cost-effective tool to produce plasmonic nanostructures. This review presents an overview of recent development of using the HCL technique to prepare plasmonic nanostructures with interesting properties. Several strategies developed to improve the HCL are highlighted. By applying these strategies, the HCL can create plasmonic hetero-assemblies, chiral plasmonic nanostructures, surfaces containing continuous gradient nanostructures, nanoparticle arrays deposited on various device surfaces, and nanostructure colloids. Possible applications and interesting future developments are also discussed. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.