The disclosed method is one which provides an extremely thin substrate upon which there can be laid down a high resolution pattern of material such as metal by an electron beam fabrication technique. The latter technique is one wherein a resist is placed on the surface of the substrate. Thereafter, an electron beam is utilized to expose the resist in the desired pattern. The exposed resist is then removed and the metal or other material is laid down on the locations where the resist has been removed. With the use of the very thin substrate, the amount and effect of electron backscattering is substantially minimized whereby the consequent decrease of resolution due to exposure of the resist with the backscattered electrons is effectively eliminated. Accordingly, the resist exposure can be confined to much narrower widths than heretofore possible with known electron beam fabrication techniques.