Microscale Assemblies of Magnetic Nanoparticles Produced by Dip-Coating and Lift-Off With Dissolvable Templates

Rapid, low-cost methods for producing micropatterned arrays of nanoparticles can be used for many technological applications. This article describes a dip-coating technique for the fabrication of micrometer-scale assemblies of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). MNPs were deposited on top of dissolvable photoresist templates, which were created using photolithography in a cleanroom environment. When the templates were dissolved away, geometrically precise MNP arrays were left behind. The technique was used to produce micropatterned MNP composite arrays with engineered shapes, spacings, and positions.