TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: There is no etching of the substrate at the masked portions. The method further comprises ionizing a process gas mixture to form the plasma by exposing the process gas mixture to an electromagnetic field. The substrate is heated to at least 200 degreesC. The plasma chemically or physically etches unmasked portions of the substrate. The method further comprises covering a premask portion of the substrate surface with a premask layer that prevents formation of nanotips in the premasked portions, positioning a template relative the substrate surface to control the location of nanotip formation on the substrate surface.Preferred Materials: The plasma comprises mask components that chemically react with each other to form the mask material, or etch components that etch unmasked portions of the substrate. The mask material comprises crystallites, preferably silicon carbide crystallites. The substrate comprises a substrate material that includes silicon, sapphire, quartz, silica, germanium, gallium nitride, gallium arsenide, gallium phosphide or a metal. The process gas mixture comprises a silicon-containing gas such as silane gas; or carbon-containing gas such as alkane gas, and alkene gas, or an alkyne gas. The process gas mixture comprises argon, hydrogen, halogen or halogenated material. The premask layer comprises silicon nitride, silicon dioxide or a metal. The template comprises an anodic aluminum oxide template, zeolite template, porous silicon template, or diamond template. The article further comprises iron or gold nanoparticles on the nanotips.Preferred Compositions: The first material comprises at least 90 (preferably at least 99)% of the first portion, and the second material comprises at least 90 (preferably at least 99)% of the second portion.Preferred Parameters: The masked portions have diameters less than 20 (preferably less than 5) nm. The process gas mixture is at 0.1-10 mTorr. The nanotips have a length of more than 500 (preferably more than 1000) nm and an endpoint diameter of less than 10 (preferably less than 2) nm. The nanotip array has a nanotip density of more than 5x10power9 (preferably 10power11) /cm2.