Rapid and convenient method for preparing masters for microcontact printing with 1-12 μm features

Mechanical scribing can be employed-to create surfaces with recessed features. Through replica molding elastomeric copies of these scribed surfaces are created that function as stamps for microcontact printing. It is shown that this new method for creating masters for microcontact printing can be performed with a computer-controlled milling machine (CNC), making this method particularly straightforward and accessible to a large technical community that does not need to work in a particle free environment. Thus, no clean room, or other specialized equipment is required, as is commonly needed to prepare masters. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry confirms surface pattering by this method. Finally, it is shown that feature size in the scribed master can be controlled by varying the force on the tip during scribing. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.