Nanomachining by Colloidal Lithography

Colloidal lithography is a recently emerging field; the evolution of this simple technique is still in progress. Recent advances in this area have developed a variety of practical routes of colloidal lithography, which have great potential to replace, at least partially, complex and high‐cost advanced lithographic techniques. This Review presents the state of the art of colloidal lithography and consists of three main parts, beginning with synthetic routes to monodisperse colloids and their self‐assembly with low defect concentrations, which are used as lithographic masks. Then, we will introduce the modification of the colloidal masks using reactive ion etching (RIE), which produces a variety of nanoscopic features and multifaceted particles. Finally, a few prospective applications of colloidal lithography will be discussed. Array of hope: Colloidal lithography has been shown to be a valuable and improving technique for preparing objects on the nanometer scale with uses in a variety of fields, including electronic, biological, and medical applications. This Review takes a look at state‐of‐the‐art techniques that refine this lithography for further utility and higher‐quality patterning. The image shows how colloidal stacking leads to a template for lithographic patterning.