Patent ID: 8745761

Claim:
A method of leveling a pen array, comprising: (a) contacting a pen array with a surface and measuring a total force exerted on the surface by the pen array, wherein the surface has first and second axes, the first and second axes being parallel to the surface and perpendicular to one another, the pen array comprises a plurality of tips fixed to a common substrate layer, the tips and the common substrate layer being formed from an elastomeric polymer or elastomeric gel polymer, and the tips having a radius of curvature of less than about 1 μm, and the pen array is disposed at a first angle with respect to the first axis of the surface and a second angle with respect to the second axis of the surface; (b) tilting one or both of the pen array and the surface to vary the first and second angles of the pen array with respect to the surface; (c) measuring the total force exerted by the tilted pen array of step (b) on the surface; and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until a global maximum of the total force exerted on the surface by the pen array is measured, thereby determining first and second angles which correspond to a leveled position of the pen array with respect to the surface.