This paper describes an application for atomic force microscopy to the fabrication of nanotextures with various features on a GaAs surface by local oxidation nanolithography (LON). By controlling the geometrical shapes and surface coverage of the nanotexture, the surface adhesion can be adjusted to a low adhesive surface. The influence of environmental conditions, such as relative humidity and temperature on adhesion behavior, was studied. An optic heater was employed to minimize thermal effect on an atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever and PbZrTiO3 scanner. In our study, AFM is used for both fabrication and characterization. LON allows the fabricated nanotextures to be altered in situ without the need to change masks or repeat the entire fabrication process. Furthermore, the nanoadhesion characterization of nanotextures on a GaAs surface was investigated with a colloidal probe method.Keywords: adhesion; functional surface; local oxidation nanolithography; nanotexture;

•Nano wells were fabricated with layer by layer self-assembly technique.•The bottom of the nanowell was hydrophilic with a hydrophobic top.•Single ionic liquid droplet was immobilized in a single nanowell.•Surface forces of individual ionic liquid nano-droplets were evaluated by AFM.A novel microfabrication method is presented to fabricate nano wells on silicon surfaces by using a patterned self-assembly technique combine with a dip-coating process. The bottom of the nanowell is fabricated with hydrophilic surface and the top with hydrophobic surface. A single ionic liquid droplet was immobilized in a nanowell by employing the dip-coating process. Dynamic forces of individual ionic liquid nano-droplets with various dimensions were investigated by atomic force microscope (AFM). The effectiveness of the AFM to probe dynamic interactions between ionic liquid nano-droplet in atmosphere was demonstrated. Qualitative trends in the force behavior of the ionic liquid nano-droplets have been obtained by a modified AFM probe.Graphical abstract