Local oxidation nanolithography (LON) is a tip-based nanofabrication method. It is based on the spatial confinement on an oxidation reaction under the sharp tip of an atomic force microscope. The first materials on which LON was demonstrated were Si(111) and polycrystalline tantalum. Subsequently, the technique has been extended to III–V semiconductors, silicon carbide, metals such as titanium, tantalum, aluminium, molybdenum, nickel and niobium; thin films of manganite in the perovskite form; dielectrics like silicon nitride, organosilane self-assembled monolayers, dendritic macromolecules and carbonaceous films.