Combined-dynamic mode "dip-pen" nanolithography and physically nanopatterning along single DNA molecules

Atomic force micriscope (AFM)-based dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) is an emerging approach for con-structing nanostructures on material surfaces such as gold, silicon and silicon oxide. Although DPN is a powerful tech-nique, it has not shown its ability of direct-writing and pat-terning of nanostructures on surfaces of soft materials, for example biomacromolecules. Direct depositing on soft sur-faces becomes possible with the introduction of a com-bined-dynamic mode DPN rather than mostly used contact mode DPN or tapping mode DPN. In this report, the com-bined dynamic mode DPN is used for direct depositing pro-tein ink on DNA molecules at the nanometer scale.