AFRL’s Support of Nanolithography Pioneer Continues to Pay Off

  • Published
  • By Robert White
  • Office of Scientific Research
ARLINGTON, Virginia --  In 1997, the Air Force Research Laboratory took a chance on a process called Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN), "a far out idea" which proved to be basic research that changed the world. First highlighted in the journal Science in January 1999, DPN is a technology that builds nanoscale structures and patterns by drawing molecules and materials directly onto a substrate.

AFRL was the sole funding agent for a Northwestern University program proposed by Dr. Chad Mirkin. Dr. Mirkin's DPN technology resulted in the establishment of four companies by 2012, and is a key foundation for the semiconductor industry's success. In March 2012, the DPN program took the top spot in the March 2012 National Geographic special issue titled "100 Scientific Discoveries that Changed the World."

This process is achieved by employing an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), the tip of which has the innate capability to precisely place items and draw complex patterns made of molecules and materials at the nanoscale level. The AFM is basically an extremely small stylus that can be used to determine surface topography. Mirkin's fundamental contribution was recognizing that it could be used as a "pen" to print structures on a surface through materials transfer rather than through an energy delivery process--the latter being the approach taken by all previous researchers.

While the National Geographic highlight gives due credit to the significant impact of nanolithography and Dr. Mirkin's role in developing DPN, it's well worth noting the overarching consequences of his revolutionary discoveries. Dr. Mirkin solved the challenge of making, manipulating, and controlling things interesting to biologists, material scientists, and chemists on a small scale. His efforts resulted in mass production techniques that allow enormous amounts of information to be carried or placed in an exceedingly small space, and in doing so, revolutionized aspects of biology, medicine, and electronics. A relatively small basic research investment by AFRL's Air Force Office of Scientific Research has led to a worldwide industry that now employs thousands.

This AFRL-funded program revolutionized many aspects of science, manufacturing, commerce and the economy. DPN has led to the development of powerful new point-of-use nanofabrication tools, ways of miniaturizing gene chips and pharmaceutical screening devices, methods for making and repairing photomasks used in the microelectronics industry, and high-throughput methods for discovering structures important in biology, medicine, and catalysis.