Low cost nanolithography with nanoaccuracy

Because many applications of lithography cannot use the optical projection tools developed for the semiconductor industry, either because of high cost or inflexibility, low-cost, flexible alternatives are essential to researc h and future industries. A subset of these low-cost alternatives is discuss ed: intimate-contact lithography, interference lithography, and spatial-pha se-locked c-beam lithography. It is asserted that self assembly, an importa nt element of future nanotechnology, will likely utilize lithography in so- called "templated self-assembly". (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.