text: While the original effort failed to produce useful products, follow-on work in Europe did produce usable astronomical detectors
  but without apparent use of this technology. In other areas, however, the approach seems to be competitive, with prior art for making various end-products, since it has been used as a fabrication step for experimental devices and structures. Many groups have used the approach to grow homoepitaxial diamond and subsequently release the thin-films with a variety of "lift-off" processes.
  It has also been considered in contexts such as carbon microelectromechanical systems production and different materials applications, for example with non-contacted palladium deposition and extensions. While not citing Marchywka et al.'s original paper, these continue to cite non-contactedness as a feature,
  "The electrode assembly and the conductive surface may be positioned in close proximity to, but without contacting, one another". references a much earlier patent covering related attempts to achieve non-contacted electro-etching, "The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for electrochemically processing metallic surfaces of workpieces arranged in a contact-free manner with regard to the cathode and anode[...]."
  The effect has been mentioned in passing with regard to novel devices such
  as quantum coherent devices while patents on emerging uses for amorphous carbon
  and
  diamond thermal conductors by manufacturers of high density electronic chips reference the related lift-off technology.