The Prospects of Colloidal Lithography Towards Low-Cost and Scalable Sensors

Nanosphere lithography (NSL), a colloidal-based nanopatterning technique, has demonstrated versatility for bottom-up and top-down nanofabrication approaches with a simple procedure that can be performed in a standard chemical laboratory. This technique offers versatility for large-area nanopatterning with a low-cost process. Nanopatterned arrays have shown outstanding features in enhancing sensor performance due to their ability to create effective nanoscale physical and chemical changes, high molecular entrapment with the roughened substrate, and means of downscaling toward scalable sensors manufacturing. All these prominent properties have made NSL a promising candidate for scalable biosensors production as its performance is also highly comparable with the pre-existing lithography techniques that mostly require high-cost infrastructure. This mini-review discusses in detail the advantages of colloidal lithography over other lithography techniques from the resolution and scalability of manufacturing. It is emphasized that the cost-competitive NSL technology may be applicable for a broad range of end-users, from high-profit margins, such as communication, technology, and health sectors, to the low-profit margins, such as in food industries. The combinational strategies in NSL are presented, including polystyrene nanotemplating of the substrate, feasible integration with metallic film deposition technologies, and potential application in various sensing platforms. © 2007-2011 IEEE.