DPN 5000 System

NanoInk has harnessed the ability of Dip Pen Nanolithography® (DPN®) technology to deposit materials with nanoscale precision, to develop a technique for fabricating metallic nanoclusters. In this application note, NanoInk’s nanolithography systems were used to pattern sub-micron sized droplets of a mixture of metal salt in P2VP-PEO onto a SiO2 substrate. The printed surface was then heat treated to decompose the polymer and oxidize the metal ions, creating arrays of metal oxide nanoclusters. It concludes that the DPN fabrication process is a reliable method for creating clusters of nanomaterials in regular arrays on a silicon oxide surface.

Dip Pen Nanolithography® (DPN®) is an established method of nanofabrication in which materials are deposited onto a surface using a sharp tip. In this application note from NanoInk DPN was used to fabricate arrays of nanometer-scale features that served as attachment points for thiolated biomolecules. These binding sites were fabricated using a block co-polymer to transport small amounts of gold ions to defined locations on to a substrate. The printed droplets were heat treated to form gold nanoclusters at each deposition location, and were subsequently capable of tethering both protein and DNA molecules.

Watch this video as Dr. Banerjee from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University discusses the importance of nanotechnology and the applications of NanoInk’s Dip Pen Nanolithography® with his group’s research ideas.

Watch this video as Dr. Graham from the Institute of Molecular Nanometrology at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland discusses the importance of nanotechnology and the applications of NanoInk’s Dip Pen Nanolithography® with his group’s research ideas.