Hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) soft stamps with hard upper-part protruding areas are proposed for nanocontact printing in this study. The stamps are fabricated by low-dose E-beam lithography on low-temperature prebaked HSQ films with development in low-concentration tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) solution. In order to obtain an optimum nanoscale stamp, E-beam dose, TMAH concentration, and development time were set as fabrication parameters. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the HSQ stamps exhibited nanopatterns that have a superior sidewall profile: 40-190 nm lines with an aspect ratio of 6.86. New material systems are suggested in our nanocontact printing. Poly-l-lysine and aminosilane were separately used as inks for the HSQ stamps on a HSQ/Si substrate at room temperature. Ink thickness, pressing pressure, and pressing time were manipulated to find the optimum condition for the printing, and afterwards the transferred patterns were examined by the utilization of fluorescence microscope, atomic force microscopy, and SEM. Experimental results demonstrated that line patterns with about 1000 mu m in length of both inks are properly transferred onto the HSQ/Si substrate, and the HSQ stamps were also verified to possess good durability and repeatability. (C) 2007 The Electrochemical Society.