Patterned magnetite films prepared via soft lithography and thermal decomposition

A method for the fabrication of patterned magnetite (Fe3O4) films is presented. We first prepared an ordered 2D array of Fe(acac)3 through a selective deposition technique on patterned self-assembled monolayers. Using thermal decomposition at elevated temperature (300 °C), we transformed the patterned Fe(acac)3 into patterned Fe3O4 films in a short reaction time. These patterned films have been confirmed by using optical photographs, field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy.