title: Bubble-Pen Lithography.
abstract: Current lithography techniques, which employ photon, electron, or ion beams to induce chemical or physical reactions for micro/nano-fabrication, have remained challenging in patterning chemically synthesized colloidal particles, which are emerging as building blocks for functional devices. Herein, we develop a new technique - bubble-pen lithography (BPL) - to pattern colloidal particles on substrates using optically controlled microbubbles. Briefly, a single laser beam generates a microbubble at the interface of colloidal suspension and a plasmonic substrate via plasmon-enhanced photothermal effects. The microbubble captures and immobilizes the colloidal particles on the substrate through coordinated actions of Marangoni convection, surface tension, gas pressure, and substrate adhesion. Through directing the laser beam to move the microbubble, we create arbitrary single-particle patterns and particle assemblies with different resolutions and architectures. Furthermore, we have applied BPL to pattern CdSe/ZnS quantum dots on plasmonic substrates and polystyrene (PS) microparticles on two-dimensional (2D) atomic-layer materials. With the low-power operation, arbitrary patterning and applicability to general colloidal particles, BPL will find a wide range of applications in microelectronics, nanophotonics, and nanomedicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.|Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Linhan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Xiaolei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
authors.forename: Zhangming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.|Microelectronics Research Centre, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78758, United States.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Microelectronics Research Centre, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78758, United States.
authors.forename: Maruthi N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Yogeesh
authors.affiliation: Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Bharath Bangalore
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Rajeeva
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Evan P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Perillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.affiliation: Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.|Microelectronics Research Centre, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78758, United States.
authors.forename: Deji
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Akinwande
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.|Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Yuebing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
keywords: Microbubbles; colloidal particles; patterning; photothermal effect; quantum dots; two-dimensional materials