Analysis on probe-sample interaction for scanning near-field photolithography

Most scanning near-field photolithographs (SNP) operate in ambient environment. Recently, operation in aqueous environment has been introduced, which has extended SNP application in nanobiology. Moreover we found aqueous environment improved performance of SNP platform as aqueous environment significantly decreases adhesion force between the probe and sample surfaces. To better understand interactions between the probe and sample surface in SNP, force analysis in both ambient and aqueous conditions were investigated. Demonstrated experiments and discussion are presented.