AbstractThe ability to tailor the chemical composition and structure of a surface on the 1–100 nm length scale is important to researchers studying topics ranging from electronic conduction, to catalysis, to biological recognition in nanoscale systems. Dip‐pen nanolithography (DPN) is a new scanning‐probe based direct‐write tool for generating such surface‐patterned chemical functionality on the sub‐100 nm length‐scale, and it is a technique that is accessible to any researcher who can use an atomic force microscope. This article introduces DPN and reviews the rapid growth of the field of DPN‐related research over the past few years. Topics covered range from the development of new classes of DPN‐compatible chemistry, to experimental and theoretical advances in the understanding of the processes controlling tip–substrate ink transport, to the implementation of micro‐electro‐mechanical system (MEMS) based strategies for parallel DPN applications.