US Patent 7435353 - Focused e-beam nanopatterning

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7435353.html

This patent from Harvard teaches a new nanopatterning method for semiconductor processing involving vapor condensation and selective removal of the condensate using a focused electron beam. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for forming a nano-patterned material layer on a structure, comprising:

condensing a vapor to an amorphous solid water condensate layer on a surface of the structure;
and

localized removal of at least one selected nanometric region of the condensate layer by directing a focused electron beam at the selected region.