Method for patterning a surface of a substrate

The present invention relates to a method (30) for patterning a surface (112) of a substrate (110), the method (30) comprising: applying (S302) a liquid (100) on the surface (112) of the substrate (110), wherein an apparent viscosity of the liquid (100) depends on a field strength applied to the liquid; applying (S304) a field (102) to the liquid (100), wherein a field strength of the applied field (102) is spatially varied in the liquid in a direction (132) parallel to the surface (112) of the substrate (110), thereby generating a spatially varied apparent viscosity distribution (104) in the liquid (100) in response to the applied field (102); and patterning (S306) the surface (112) of the substrate (100) by subjecting the surface (112) to a surface modifying process (40), while maintaining the field and using portions of the liquid (100) having apparent viscosities higher than a predetermined value as a mask; wherein the surface modifying process (40) comprises removing (S402) material of the surface (112) of the substrate (110) and/or depositing (S404) material on the surface (112) of the substrate (110).