Researchers devise new 'subtractive' type of nanoscale printing
Friday, September 21, 2012 - 06:30
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org)—The normal process for printing is centuries old, a piece of material such as wood is fashioned to look like the desired output, a letter of the alphabet, for example resulting in a stamp. Ink is then applied to the stamp and then the stamp is pressed on to something else, such as a piece of paper, resulting in the printing of the letter as the ink is left behind. Modern lithography is based on much the same principle, but now a new way has been found that appears to be cheaper. Instead of inking the stamp, the researchers from the University of California, as they describe in their paper published in the journal Science, ink the "paper" then have the stamp remove the parts of the ink that don't belong.