ABSTRACT
The development of nanoscience and nanotechnology depends strongly on the capabilities of the fabrication techniques that are used for patterning and chemically modifying materials at the nanoscale. Some of the efforts in this field began with the development of methods for generating high-resolution molded rubber “stamps.” Microcontact printing relies critically on the ability of the rubber stamps to form intimate contact with a range of surfaces, including those that have some degree of roughness. The development of new materials and chemistries has revealed an impressive potential of these techniques to fabricate structures at the nanoscale level. As light propagates away from the surfaces of masks of this type, the intensity varies with position not only in the plane of the mask but also perpendicular to it. In the case of a mask with a grating geometry, this phenomenon is known as the Talbot effect.
