ABSTRACT
Early in the development of the scanning electrochemical microscope (SECM), it was recognized that when an ultramicroelectrode (UME) is brought near a conducting surface, electron transfer is confined to a small area on the surface. This realization led to the development of several methods for using the SECM as a tool for surface modification, sometimes termed patterning. Furthermore, additional techniques such as scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) and scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM) have also appeared and applied to micro- and nanopatterning. This chapter aims to systematically and comprehensively review the different systems and methods, which have been used in conjunction with SECM and related methods, for fabricating small patterns on surfaces. One of the critical problems of the direct mode is the lack of a mechanism that controls the distance between the tip and the substrate using a feedback loop.
