Electron beam lithography is one of the best tools for patterning nanostructures, but its usage is limited due to slow processing. To enhance the patterning speed, the authors used a low dose electron beam to generate a "latent" charge pattern image and then create a real pattern by attaching positively charged particles by electrospray. Hard baked 2.3 mu m thick polymethylmethacrylate substrates were irradiated with a 2 keV electron beam with a dose of 50 nC/cm(2). Positively charged silver nanoparticles were generated by an electrospray technique in which a nanoparticle solution mixed with hexane was sprayed through a 15 Am diameter capillary tip with an applied potential of 4.5 kV. Charged nanoparticles were deposited to the charge patterned sites by electrostatic attraction with a resolution of 0.7 mu m. This patterning approach, which we call "electrostatic lithography," represents a speed increase of similar to 20 times over standard fast electron beam resists that require typical doses of 1 mu C/cm(2). This approach may lead to a general capability for ultrafast patterning of nanomaterial building blocks including nanoparticles and nanotubes without requiring additional etching or other processing steps. (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society.