  A home made DSP-controlled scanning probe microscope (SPM) system has been
developed and its utilization as a tool for lithography on nanometer scale is
reported. User-friendly graphic interface allows to directly perform
nanolithography importing a bitmap pattern on previously-imaged sample region,
otherwise moving in real time the probe using an ordinary mouse, acting as a
pantograph from macroscopic down to nanometer scale, taking advantage from an
absolute-positioning stage. Any measured property of the sample can be used by
the lithographic interface to realize interactive patterning of the sample.
Moreover, the 'contour-mode' permits to move tip at a fixed relative tip-sample
distance, exploiting at each step the previously-acquired topographic signal.
The instrument has been successfully employed in order to perform local anodic
oxidation (LAO) lithography on semiconducting substrates.
