Project description
A macroscopic resonator for new 3D printing applications
Additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, is a construction of three-dimensional objects from a computer-aided design, or digital 3D model, enabling fast, digitally controlled design and extremely precise processing with the materials being added together. It is especially helpful in manufacturing micron-sized objects with nanometric resolution. But its use today remains limited, mainly due to the parameters of the required materials. The EU-funded NanoPrint project provides a nanometric manufacturing technology with unprecedented versatility and resolution thanks to a novelty method that uses a macroscopic resonator to attach a larger capillary, without excessively disturbing the oscillation properties necessary for the deposition. This proof of concept project will result in new possibilities for the semiconductor, molecular diagnosis and microLED industries.
Objective
Additive Manufacturing (AM) offers the opportunity to quickly design and make prototypes that would otherwise require multiple step processing (lithography, nanoimprint…). So far, two-photon polymerization is the leading technology for manufacturing micron sized objects with nanometric resolution. However, thise technique requires photosensitive material, that polymerizes through two-photon absorption, limiting the versatility of the the technology NanoPrint is a direct AM technique, offering resolutions down to a few tens of nanometers in width and a few nanometers in height, bridging the manufacturing gap exposed by the historical industry trend of the past 40 years. It is not material specific, as any ink can be deposited, minding some adjustments in the printing parameters (colloidal metals, polymers, sensitive biological material). Another major advantage of this solution is the non-alteration of the ink by an external energy source (UV, laser…). Inspired by the long-established know-how in AFM at Micromégas Team, NanoPrint provides a nanometric manufacturing technology with unprecedented versatility and resolution. As opposed to conventional AFM techniques, our method uses a macroscopic resonator (tuning fork) allowing us to attach a larger capillary, without much excessively disturbing the oscillation properties, that are crucial for the deposition. We believe this technology will open new opportunities for the semiconductor (maskless lithography, interconnects...) molecular diagnosis (lab-on-chip, point of use), and microled (augmented and virtual reality) industries. This project emerged from the NANOSOFT ERC project, while working on the nanomanipulation of nanotubes and nanopipettes.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesmicrotechnologylab on a chip
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicssemiconductivity
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationsvirtual reality
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringadditive manufacturing
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-POC-LS - ERC Proof of Concept Lump Sum PilotHost institution
75794 Paris
France