ABSTRACT
Nanofabrication, the process of generating structures with at least one dimension less than 100 nm, is an indispensable enabler of nanotechnology. There are two general strategies in nanofabrication—the top–down approach by engineers for patterning nanoscale structures on a substrate and the bottom–up approach by chemists for assembling atomic or molecular building blocks into nanoscale structures in a solution phase. In this entry, we provide a brief overview of various techniques with a focus on the top–down approach. We will discuss conventional techniques such as photolithography and electron beam lithography and highlight a number of unconventional approaches based on molding, embossing, printing, and skiving. Our goal is to illustrate the different operational and mechanistic principles of techniques and shed light on their practices, limitations, and potential applications.
