Nanostructures of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane created on flat substrate by combining colloid lithography and vapor deposition

The creation of patterned structures with micro/nano-scale lengths on flat surfaces has recently been emerged as an important technique in various fields. In this report, we present a simple method to create nanopatterns of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) on glass substrates by the combination of colloid lithography and vapor deposition. When deposition was conducted at room temperature under natural humidity, an array of nanorings was formed on the substrate by the condensation of APS vapor on the water bridges remaining under the particles. By varying only the deposition temperature, the structure of the ordered arrays could easily be transformed: nanorings were converted to honeycomb and dot-like structures by increasing temperature. This transformation proposedly occurred by the condensation and polymerization of APS vapor through the deformed particles of the colloidal monolayer. We also fabricated a patterned polymer brush array and a pore array using the obtained APS nanopattern as a template.