Ice Lithography: Recent Progress Opens a New Frontier of Opportunities

Abstract

Ice lithography (IL) is an emerging and versatile direct write method that complements two photon lithography and focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID). Based on interaction between energetic electrons and frozen materials, IL permits the creation of high-resolution 2D patterns and intricate 3D micro- and nanostructures. This review highlights advancements spanning the past five years. Several notable breakthroughs have been reported during this time frame including the development of i) new classes of low-toxicity IL materials, including organometallics and renewable materials such as CO2 and ethanol; ii) innovative new substrates such as biological materials and even living micro-organisms; iii) disruptive processes, hardware and digital methods to obtain complex 3D objects; and iv) cutting-edge applications in 2D materials research, direct synthesis of quantum dots for sensing, and ultra-high density data storage. These discoveries offer the opportunity to focus on exciting future applications, and this review peeks into the future through a roadmap on how recent progress in IL might enable innovations into apparent unrelated fields of cancer screening, fundamental biophysics, quantum technology, future microsensor production, and more generally advanced functional materials research.