Hard X-rays and soft-matter: processing of sol-gel films from a top down route.

A current trend of applied research in the field of nanomaterials is the integration of bottom up and top down fabrication methods. Sol-gel chemistry is widely applied to obtain different functional materials from a bottom up route, especially in the case of thin films. To fabricate devices based on sol-gel films, which include nanocomposites and mesoporous ordered materials, application of lithography technologies is mandatory. Among the different lithographic approaches, photolithography is widely used by companies using micro-fabrication processes. In this context, photolithography is a typical top down method that requires to be integrated as much as possible with deposition of thin films from a liquid phase. Recently we have developed a new integrated fabrication method which uses high energy photons, such as hard X-rays, which typically have energies between 2.5 and 12 keV, for the manipulation and production of a large variety of functional materials and devices. In the present review a short overview of such achievements is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]