Latex bead projection nanopatterns

Monolayers of monodisperse latex beads of submicron size are used as a convenient mask for physical vapour deposition to produce latex bead projection patterns as nanostructures that have been used often as test structures for near-field optical applications. Variations of the fabrication technique lead to derived nanostructures: flat surface structures are formed by embedding projection patterns consisting of one material into the surface of a different material; complementary projection patterns are formed by using a projection pattern as a mask for a nanoimprinting process; and submicron ring structures are formed in a controlled way from the debris of the latex bead mask. The application of such nanostructures as test patterns for scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) is demonstrated. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.