Oxidized gold as an ultrathin etch resist applied in microcontact printing

In this report it is described how a gold surface can be treated with an oxygen plasma to become an effective etch mask, with its etch resistive properties based upon electrostatic repulsion. Such a treated gold layer is only temporarily stable and may therefore be employed as a temporary etch barrier that introduces no contaminating species. Deterioration of the barrier properties can be locally expedited in a scheme that is compatible with microcontact printing. This has been achieved by the microcontact printing of a reductant on a fully oxidized gold substrate.