the materials mostly used in the examples as structural or masking material are polysilicon ( low pressure chemical vapour deposited , lpcvd ), silicon oxide ( thermal ), and low stress ( silicon rich ) silicon nitride ( lpcvd ). table 1 summarizes the etch rates of these materials in the etchants used in the examples . tmah refers to a 5 wt % solution of tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide in water at 70 ° c . 50 % hf etching is performed at room temperature , without stirring . h 3 po 4 refers to a 85 vol % solution at 180 ° c . * the lower value is for the lateral etch rate in confinement , specifically for the conditions presented below . the higher value is for the blank film . the aim of this example is to create an insulating micro pyramid , with metallic tip . ultimately this type of structure could find application in advanced spm , for example for localized electrical or electrochemical measurements . fig1 shows the fabrication scheme for an oxide pyramid supporting a nanosubstruture metal tip . fabrication started with the mold fabrication , in this case by koh etching in a & lt ; 100 & gt ; silicon wafer to create the pyramidal hole bounded by the & lt ; 111 & gt ; planes . next , silicon nitride ( 220 nm ) was deposited by lpcvd ( conformal deposition ) and isotropically removed in 50 % hf ( 84 min . at room temperature ). this is a timed etch step which required a 1 . 23 times over - etching to remove the silicon nitride in the four oblique ribs of the pyramidal hole ( α = 109 . 4 °) and leaving only a small piece of silicon nitride at the tip . to calibrate the etching speed , a dummy wafer containing the same thickness of silicon nitride was etched in parallel . the silicon oxide structural material for the pyramid was formed by local oxidation of the silicon ( locos ) ( see j . a . appels , e . kooi , m . m . paffen , j . j . h . schatorje , w . verkuylen , “ local oxidation of silicon and its applications in semiconductor - device technology ”, philips res . rep ., 25 ( 1970 ), pp . 118 - 132 ) using the residual silicon nitride as the inversion mask . the locos step was a wet oxidation performed at 1000 ° c . for 35 min ., resulting in a 270 nm layer . next , the silicon nitride at the tip was removed in hot h 3 po 4 ( 30 min . at 180 ° c .) and 30 nm chromium was deposited by sputtering to create the metal tip . finally , the silicon mold was removed in tmah . tmah is a suitable etchant for this step as it has a high selectivity for silicon as compared to silicon oxide ( table 1 ) [ 7 ]. fig2 shows the fabricated silicon oxide pyramid having a chromium tip of less than 300 nm in size . dependent on the material of the pyramide wires , the pyramid may have particular uses . with wires made of piezoresistive material , such as p ++ silicon nano - dot or line , the pyramide may be used for measuring ( contact ) forces . with wires made material having a temperature dependent electrical resistance , a pyramide may be used for local temperature measurement . wire dissipating electrical power may be used for local heating . the aim of this example is to create a pyramid with tunable nanosubstructure apertures close to the tip . fabrication started with koh etching of the pyramidal mold in a & lt ; 100 & gt ; silicon wafer . next , 500 nm lpcvd silicon nitride structural material was conformally deposited , followed by 330 nm lpcvd polysilicon . this layer acted as etching mask in later steps . a second layer of silicon nitride ( 120 nm ) was deposited and isotropically etched in 50 % hf in order to remove all of the silicon nitride but a small remnant at the tip ( fig3 a ). this remnant was used as an inversion mask in the locos step ( wet oxidation at 900 ° c . for 10 min .) of the polysilicon ( fig3 b ). after removal of the silicon nitride remnant a timed etching of the polysilicon followed , which starts at the apex of the pyramid and moves up along its sides ( fig3 c ). the duration of this step determines the height of the nano apertures to be formed . typically , a confined layer of 330 nm polysilicon etches laterally at a speed of 4 . 2 . 10 2 nm / min . in the 5 wt % tmah solution supplied through a silicon oxide pinhole of sub 100 nm . next the silicon oxide was removed and the first silicon nitride etched in 50 % hf . this also is a timed etch step as it should leave the silicon nitride nano wires and the tip ( fig3 d ). fig4 shows a typical fabrication result with apertures in the order of 1 μm in size . the size and the location of the apertures can be tuned by the thickness of in particular the silicon nitride layers and by the polysilicon etching time . in this example vertical nanowires and suspended horizontal silicon nitride nanowires were created in the sharp concave corners of a silicon oxide mold . the suspended nanowires illustrate the ability to create relative long , slender and rather complex 3d - structures using corner lithography . to create vertical nanowires a silicon oxide mold was made containing the appropriate sharp concave corners . illustrated is the process which was followed by a structure having four vertical wires created in the corners of a square mold . first a square silicon pillar is etched by deep reactive ion etching ( drie ) with photoresist as the mask material . next , the resist is stripped and the wafer oxidized ( wet oxidation at 950 ° c .) to form the silicon oxide mold ( thickness of about 400 nm ), fig5 a . under these conditions convex corners in the silicon are sharpened as is illustrate by the cross section , fig5 b ( see r . b . marcus , t . t . sheng , “ the oxidation of shaped silicon surfaces ”, j . electrochem . soc ., 129 ( 1982 ), pp . 1278 - 1282 ). finally , the silicon oxide is removed from the top by a maskless directional rie step ( fig5 c ), and the mold is hollowed out by isotropic rie in a sf 6 plasma ( fig5 d ). this completes the mold fabrication . to create vertical wires a silicon nitride layer of 350 nm was deposited by lpcvd and etched back in hot h 3 po 4 for 83 min to leave the wires in the concave corners . finally , the silicon oxide mould was removed in bhf and the vertical nanowires remained ( fig6 a to 6b ). note that vertical nanowires are only formed in concave corners of the mold , therefore they are situated only at convex corners of the supporting structure after removal of the mold . to add suspended horizontal nanowires an overhanging “ roof ” is added to the mold to create an horizontally oriented concave corner . the fabrication of the mold is illustrated in fig7 a to 7d . first a silicon pillar is etched by drie ( bosch process ) using a silicon oxide and silicon nitride bi - layer as the mask . next , the silicon oxide is etched in bhf , under - cutting the silicon nitride thin film . then the silicon nitride is thinned down in hot h 3 po 4 until it is only left on top of the silicon oxide . using the remaining mask material a locos step is performed . after stripping of the silicon nitride and thinning down of the silicon oxide , the silicon is isotropically etched in a sf 6 plasma through the window in the silicon oxide . fig8 a shows a sem picture of a typical mold structure . the cross section next to it shows the location of the horizontal nanowires in the concave corners of the mold . fig9 shows the resulting suspended nano wire structure formed after conformal deposition of silicon nitride ( 350 nm by lpcvd ), subsequent isotropic thinning of this layer in hot h 3 po 4 for 83 min ., and removal of the mold in bhf . method for making a silicon nitride ( sin ) pyramid fountain - pen with tunable nano - apertures . as in example 2 is first produced a sin pyramid with tunable nano - apertures . subsequently , by further two conformal depositions of structural materials and by sacrificial etching of the formerly deposited structural layer are formed channels for liquid or gas . finally after removal of the the silicon mold , remains a free hanging inverted pyramid containing a fluid / gas supply channel with nano - apertures . with reference to the fig1 - 24 the method for making a silicon nitride pyramid fountain - pen is further described . fig1 : mold fabrication : inverted pyramid in mono crystalline silicon created by anisotropic wet etching . fig1 shows the conformal deposition of 3 layers : lpcvd sin , lpcvd poly - si , lpcvd sin . fig1 shows the isotropic removal of the last deposited lpcvd sin layer . fig1 shows the 1 . 23 times over - etching to remove the lpcvd sin in the four oblique ribs of the inverted pyramid . fig1 shows the partly oxidation of the lpcvd poly - si using the residual lpcvd sin as inversion mask . ( local oxidation of lpcvd poly - si : locos ). fig1 shows the wet etching of poly - si using the locos - oxide as mask material . length a can be tuned by the etching time . fig1 shows the isotropic etching of the first deposited lpcvd sin layer using the polysilicon as the etch mask . fig2 shows the conformal deposition of lpcvd poly si ( sacrificial layer ). fig2 shows the conformal deposition of lpcvd sin ( capping layer of the fluid / gas channel ). fig2 shows the sacrificial etching of the lpcvd poly - si layer , leaving a channel for fluid / gas supply . fig2 shows the removal of the silicon mold , leaving a free hanging inverted pyramid containing a fluid / gas supply channel with nano - apertures . fig2 a - 24d is the top drawing represents the top view of the final structure : a sin pyramid fountain pen with tunable nano - apertures . cross section 1 - 1 represents fig2 . views 2 ) and 3 ) show different cross sections . the advantage of the fountain pen approach compared with nadis ( nanoscale dispensing system ) is that a wider variety of inks can be used ( also more volatile ones ) and that eventually complex fluidic delivery systems can be made . compared with the popular dip pen technology some of the possible advantages of the fountain pen technology are : a larger amount of ink is available , the dependence of the writing process on relative humidity could be less , inks can be mixed at the tip , inks can possibly be changed during writing and electrochemical deposition of for example metals is possible . a cross - section of the prior art probe is shown in fig2 a below , together with a written line pattern of a self - assembled monolayer ( odt ) on gold . as can be seen in fig2 a , the written feature size is still in the order of 1 μm . the explanation for this is that most likely a local “ wet ” environment is created in the vicinity of the tip which , as described by the kelvin equation , leads to a meniscus with a relative large radius of curvature . depending on the contact angle of the ink to the substrate and the tip material , this can easily lead to a rather large spot on the substrate ( fig2 ( left ) illustrates this ). the strategy that we will follow to confine the meniscus is the use of the apertures on the four sides of the pyramid . it is expected that the meniscus is confined to the tip apex as illustrated in fig2 . liquid is supplied through the inside of the pyramid . a second approach is to guide the liquid in or along the wires of a wire pyramid structure . the final aim in the scope of this proposal is a ten - fold reduction of the line width , so typically sub - 100 nm resolution . the applicant has ongoing collaborations with the biophysical engineering group of prof . subramaniam and the molecular nanofabrication group of prof . huskens ( both at the university of twente ) on the application of the nanofountain pen , therefore knowledge of different inks and substrates to be tested is available to the project . in the above examples has been shown a fabricationprocess for 3d nanostructures comprising nanosubstructures without the need for nano lithography . the method according to the invention is also capable of creating nanowires ( vertical as well as suspended horizontal ) and has been shown effective for modifications of pyramidal tips , as the ones used in scanning probe microscopy . as it is a batch - wise process which is relative cheap .