Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing a new way to create microscopic patterns on surfaces. The technique involves stamping a surface with a pattern using microcontact printing, then taking advantage of a polymer material's electrical properties to build up layers of it over the pattern. The unstamped areas are filled with an inert material that repels the polymer. The researchers also have automated the process by adapting a machine originally designed for staining slides in biological studies. Recent advances in this work include the ability to create more complex patterns and automation of the patterning process. In a bit of scientific serendipity, the researchers discovered that changing the salt content or pH of the system causes the polymer and the inert material to switch hit. Stripes that previously attracted the polymer now attract the inert material and vice versa. The ease and cost-effectiveness of the technique make it a possible alternative to conventional patterning procedures such as the photolithography used in the manufacture of computer chips. The potential applications of this work are in flat-panel displays, photonic devices for ultrafast information processing, and microanalytical devices.