Abstract
Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in the fabrication of complex high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) architectures at micro/nanoscale. These architectures can be obtained through conventional microfabrication methods including photolithography, electron-beam lithography, femtosecond laser lithography, nanoimprint lithography, etc. However, the applications of these fabrication methods are limited by their high costs, the generation of various chemical wastes, and their insufficient ability to create high-aspect-ratio 3D structures. High-resolution 3D printing has recently emerged as a promising solution, as it is capable of building multifunctional 3D constructs with optimal properties. Here we present a review on the principles and the recent advances of high-resolution 3D printing techniques, including two-photon polymerization (TPP), projection microstereoLithography (PµSL), direct ink writing (DIW) and electrohydrodynamic printing (EHDP). We also highlight their typical applications in various fields such as metamaterials, energy storage, flexible electronics, microscale tissue engineering scaffolds and organ-on-chips. Finally, we discuss the challenge and perspective of these high-resolution 3D printing techniques in technical and application aspects. We believe that high-resolution 3D printing will eventually revolutionize the microfabrication processes of 3D architectures with high product quality and diversified materials. It will also find applications in a wide scope.
Highlights
There are growing demands for the fabrication of complex micro/nanoscale three-dimensional structures in various areas including novel materials, electronics, biomedical engineering, micro fuel cell, and microfluidics [1]
Inductively coupled plasma etching (ICP) was used to achieve batch fabrication of a large volume of silicon micropost array masters and mass-production of the elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micropost arrays, which were used to study the effect of substrate rigidity on cell behavior and function [2]
We summarize the recent progress of novel high-resolution 3D printing techniques including two-photon polymerization (TPP), PμSL, direct ink writing (DIW) and electrohydrodynamic printing (EHDP)
Summary
There are growing demands for the fabrication of complex micro/nanoscale three-dimensional structures in various areas including novel materials, electronics, biomedical engineering, micro fuel cell, and microfluidics [1]. Lithography in combination with thin film technologies was utilized to realize interconnects and micovias between device layers [3] These techniques can only create 2D or 2.5D structures on a flat surface, which limits their applications. They encounter challenges such as expensive equipment, complicated processing steps, long production period and the generation of various chemical wastes In contrast to these subtractive manufacturing approaches that remove material, three-dimensional (3D) printing has emerged as a popular additive manufacturing technique to fabricate 3D geometries in a layer-by-layer manner, which achieves both macroscale customized architectures and complex internal structure. The working principles, fabrication resolution, merits and drawbacks of each technique are described We review their typical applications in various areas including novel materials, electronics and biomedicine. The range of “high-resolution” for bioprinting is not so strict, since the feature size as large as ~200 μm is still sufficient for the construction of 3D patterned tissues, which has been difficult to achieve in the past
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