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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday September 26 2020, @01:38AM   Printer-friendly
from the squishy! dept.

New 3D printing tech produces smaller-than-ever soft gel objects:

If higher-energy/shorter-wavelength electron beams or X-rays were used instead of ultraviolet or visible light, it would be possible to create items with finer structural detail – this is because it's possible to more tightly focus the beams of those types of radiation. Additionally, no light-sensitive molecules would be required, as the beams could work directly on the polymer chains.

Unfortunately, though, the scanning electron microscopes or X-ray microscopes required to produce the beams must be operated in a vacuum. If the water/polymer mixture were to be placed in such a vacuum, it would evaporate before forming into a gel.

Led by Dr. Andrei Kolmakov, scientists at America's National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed a work-around. By placing an ultra-thin sheet of silicon nitride over the liquid chamber, they protected the solution within from the required vacuum, while still allowing electron beams and X-rays to penetrate through.

The researchers were therefore able to create gels containing structures as small as 100 nanometers in width, which is about one one-thousandth the width of a human hair. Once the system is refined further, it is hoped that it will be possible to print items as small as 50 nanometers – about the size of a small virus.

The approach is mainly thought to find application in medical implants and nanotechnology.

Journal Reference:
Tanya Gupta, Evgheni Strelcov, Glenn Holland, et. al. Electron and X-ray Focused Beam-Induced Cross-Linking in Liquids: Toward Rapid Continuous 3D Nanoprinting and Interfacing using Soft Materials, ACS Nano (DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c04266)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:02AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:02AM (#1057119)

    It's not how small and soft it is. It's how you use it.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @03:17PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @03:17PM (#1057277)

      > ...as small as 100 nanometers in width...

      So... not even Micro-soft.

  • (Score: 2) by shortscreen on Saturday September 26 2020, @09:14AM (1 child)

    by shortscreen (2252) on Saturday September 26 2020, @09:14AM (#1057173) Journal

    My first thought was that this sounds more like etching than printing. How does it compare to photolithography processes used for semiconductors, also having nanometer-scale resolution?

    Step one in figuring out wtf the journal link was about involved looking this up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-link [wikipedia.org]

    It refers to polymers bonding together. So I guess they have a puddle of something like liquid paint and they use the beam to selectively cure parts of it. I still don't know how they are controlling which parts become exposed to the beam, or how limited the third dimension of the produced object is.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 27 2020, @06:09AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 27 2020, @06:09AM (#1057537)

      This is based on classic 3D laser printing. They use two or sometimes three beams which are individually too weak to affect the liquid but when they all come together they are strong enough. Radiation therapy uses the same method.

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