Meniscus Lithography: Evaporation-Induced Self-Organization of Pillar Arrays into Moiré Patterns

Abstract

We demonstrate a self-organizing system that generates patterns by dynamic feedback: two periodic surfaces collectively structure an intervening liquid sandwiched between them, which then reconfigures the original surface features into moiré patterns as it evaporates. Like the conventional moiré phenomenon, the patterns are deterministic and tunable by mismatch angle, yet additional behaviors—chirality from achiral starting motifs and preservation of the patterns after the surfaces are separated—emerge uniquely from the feedback process. Patterning menisci based on this principle provides a simple, scalable approach for making a series of complex, long-range-ordered structures.