A University of Illinois research team led by Dr. Kimani Toussaint has developed novel, metal, pillar-bowtie nanoantenna array templates on silicon dioxide pillars. The team which includes Brian Roxworthy and Abdul Bhuiya demonstrated that the gap size for either individual or multiple p-BNAs can be tuned down to approximately 5nm, roughly ~4x smaller than what is currently achievable using conventional electron-beam lithography techniques. This technology enables the tuning of the optical response of the nanoantennas down to the level of a single nanoantenna. This could lead to unique spatially addressable nanophotonic devices for sensing and particle manipulations and provides a fertile platform for studying mechanical, electromagnetic and thermal phenomena in a nanoscale system.