Lithography is a metho for printing using a plate or stone with a completely smooth surface. By contrast with intaglio printing which uses a plate that has been engraved (engraving), etched (etching) or stippled (mezzotint) to produce cavities to contain the printing ink, lithography simply uses oil or fat and gum arabic to divide the smooth surface into hydrophobic regions which accept the ink, and hydrophilic regions which reject it and become the background. Invented by Bavarian author Alois Senefelder in 1796, it can be used to print text or artwork onto paper or another suitable material. The word "lithography" also refers to photolithography, a microfabrication technique used to make integrated circuits and microelectromechanical systems, although those technique have more in common with etching than with lithography.