We have developed an electron lithography method, hot electron emission lithography, which is capable of printing integrated circuits with an exposure time of only a few seconds. The basic design and fabrication of the patterned electron emitting mask made by standard metal–oxide–semiconductor technology will be discussed, and its applicability in a simple 1:1 e-beam stepper will be demonstrated. Patterns with a minimum feature size of 160 nm have been printed successfully. Further improvements in resolution to 50 nm appear to be possible. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.