Optical forces produced by laser beams can produce atomic deposition at nanometer scale. The growth of atomic structures at surfaces is produced through direct deposition or by the modification of the surface properties using neutral atom lithography. This work reports current results of neutral atom lithography with cesium, gallium and barium. We explore the potential applications of nanofabrication by neutral atoms. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.