Abstract
3D printing, on all scales, is currently a vibrant topic in scientific and industrial research as it has enormous potential to radically change manufacturing. Owing to the inherent nature of the manufacturing process, 3D printed structures may require additional material to structurally support complex features. Such support material must be removed after printing—sometimes termed subtractive manufacturing—without adversely affecting the remaining structure. An elegant solution is the use of photoresists containing labile bonds that allow for controlled cleavage with specific triggers. Herein, we explore state‐of‐the‐art cleavable photoresists for 3D direct laser writing, as well as their potential to combine additive and subtractive manufacturing in a hybrid technology. We discuss photoresist design, feature resolution, cleavage properties, and current limitations of selected examples. Furthermore, we share our perspective on possible labile bonds, and their corresponding cleavage trigger, which we believe will have a critical impact on future applications and expand the toolbox of available cleavable photoresists.
Highlights
A field of years, 3D printing has attracted much interest in the industrial research is emerging that focuses on cleavable materials and scientific community as it offers enormous potential to which can be removed in a controlled manner after printing
direct laser writing (DLW) is capable of fabricating complex 3D structures at very high resolution
The field of smart microstructures with intrinsically programmed properties has developed from a niche to a vibrant research field
Summary
DLW, known as direct laser lithography, 3D laser lithography or 3D laser printing, was introduced by Maruo in 1997 and offers by far the highest resolution of any light-based 3D printing technique.[13]. In 2010, he was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship to work at the KIT with Prof Christopher Barner-Kowollik. He is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer at QUT. Her research interests are in the area of light-matter interactions and nonlinear optical properties of materials She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow on a joint project between the Soft Matter Materials Laboratory at QUT and the Wegener group at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, investigating new materials for sub-diffraction resolution lithography. DLW is like writing in 3D with a pen of light
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
