Qin, DongXia, YounanWhitesides, George2017-07-242010Qin, Dong, Younan Xia, and George M Whitesides. 2010. “Soft Lithography for Micro- and Nanoscale Patterning.” Nature Protocols 5 (3) (February 18): 491–502. doi:10.1038/nprot.2009.234.1754-21891750-2799http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33490466This protocol provides an introduction to soft lithography—a collection of techniques based on printing, molding and embossing with an elastomeric stamp. Soft lithography provides access to three-dimensional and curved structures, tolerates a wide variety of materials, generates well-defined and controllable surface chemistries, and is generally compatible with biological applications. It is also low in cost, experimentally convenient and has emerged as a technology useful for a number of applications that include cell biology, microfluidics, lab-on-a-chip, microelectromechanical systems and flexible electronics/photonics. As examples, here we focus on three of the commonly used soft lithographic techniques: (i) microcontact printing of alkanethiols and proteins on gold-coated and glass substrates; (ii) replica molding for fabrication of microfluidic devices in poly(dimethyl siloxane), and of nanostructures in polyurethane or epoxy; and (iii) solvent-assisted micromolding of nanostructures in poly(methyl methacrylate).en-USJournal Article2017-07-2410.1038/nprot.2009.234