One of the amazing things about 3D printing is how similar technologies can be applied to so many different fields and areas of expertise. At the recent Inside 3D Printing conference in Berlin you could be awed by the size of a real life BigRep One machine and, just a few stands away, be truly baffled by nano-size 3D printed objects.
Nanofabrication is what Nanoscribe does: it applies stereolithography to the nanoscopic world. The Photonic Professional GT system was introduced at the beginning of last year and is now available commercially. It does not just offer the highest resolution imaginable, it also does two things that make it accessible to a wider audience (of highly specialized scientists), namely easy to use and high speed 3D printing.
The technology used to 3D print at a nanoscale is called Two Photon Polymerization or Two Photo Lithography. It is very similar to regular stereolithography, except that it uses femtosecond laser pulses to cure the polymers at the nanoscopic level. You may think this is just a very cool experiment and has no real life applications but, if you do, you would be macroscopically wrong.
The ability to 3D print nano-scale Photonic Wire Bonds will allow computer scientists to overcome communication bottlenecks in data centers and high performance computers. In biotechnology nano-scaffolds are making it easier than ever to grow all types of living cells.
To give scientists access to its machines without having to get into their complex workings, Nanoscribe has developed a range of software that, just like in any desktop 3D printer, can make all the difference both in quality and accessibility.
Are you ready for a Nanofablab?
