Tip-based nanofabrication

Alternative lithographic techniques, in particular those based on scanning probe microscopy, have shown a great potential for fabricating nanostructures using various material and allowing high spatial resolution, alignment capabilities and high-resolution imaging during the different lithographic steps. More specifically, atomic force microscope (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscope (STM) have been in the recent past employed to image and modify at nanometer scale a new carbon material discovered in 2004 and called graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb crystal lattice. In this chapter a review of recent results obtained by scanning probe based nanofabrication on graphene nanostructures is presented. It is focused in particular on nanomanipulation, local anodic oxidation (LAO), electrochemical or thermal-stimulated desorption, static or dynamic ploughing as well as other AFM and STM based techniques on imaging, lithography and spectroscopy.