Positive microcontact printing

Microcontact printing alkanethiols from an inked, microstructured stamp onto Au or Cu results in the formation of a self-assembled monolayer, which can locally protect the substrate from wet etching. This lithographic technique resembles a negative-type of lithography but can be inverted to the positive process. This is done by printing a type of oligothiol that does not protect the substrate from etching but prevents the adsorption of a protective monolayer from solution. Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society.