US Patent 7524534 - Reactive dip pen nanolithography

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7524534.html

This patent from Nanoink teaches a dip pen nanolithography method including the provision of a chemical reaction between a compound coated on the tip and another compound on a substrate. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of nanolithography comprising:

providing a substrate on which a first patterning compound has been applied;

providing a scanning probe microscope tip;

coating the tip with a second patterning compound; and

using the coated tip to apply the second patterning compound to the first patterning compound on the substrate via a transport medium so as to produce a desired pattern of the second patterning compound, wherein the second patterning compound reacts or combines with the first patterning compound.