Disclosed is an apparatus and method of maintaining chips or arrays of particles, or arrays of particles deposited on chip surfaces, in a designated area on a substrate surface. This is accomplished by having hydrophilic chips or arrays of particles, and a substrate which has a series of hydrophilic regions designed to accommodate the chips/arrays of particles, surrounded by hydrophobic regions. In the presence of aqueous solution, the chips or arrays of particles are held in the designated regions.