First chip-based 3D printer

June 7 () –

Researchers from MIT and the University of Texas at Austin took a big step toward realizing a portable 3d printer demonstrate the first chip-based device of its kind.

Their proof-of-concept device consists of a single millimeter-scale photonic chip that emits reconfigurable beams of light into a well of resin that hardens into a solid form. when the light hits it.

The prototype chip has no moving parts, instead relying on an array of small optical antennas to direct a beam of light. The beam is projected upward into a liquid resin that has been designed to harden rapidly when exposed to the wavelength of the visible light beam.

By combining silicon photonics and photochemistry, the interdisciplinary research team was able to demonstrate a chip that can direct beams of light to 3D print arbitrary two-dimensional patterns, including the letters MIT. Shapes can be formed completely in a matter of seconds.

Long term, they envision a system in which a photonic chip sits at the bottom of a well of resin and emits a 3D hologram of visible light, rapidly curing an entire object in a single step. according to a statement from MIT.

This type of portable 3D printer could have many applications, such as allowing doctors to create custom-made medical device components or allowing engineers to make rapid prototypes in a workplace.

“This system is completely rethinking what a 3D printer is. It is no longer a big box sitting on a bench in a laboratory that creates objects, but something that can be held in your hand and is portable. “It’s exciting to think about what new applications could arise from this and how it could change the field of 3D printing,” says senior author Jelena Notaros, professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), and member of the Laboratory of MIT Electronics Research.

The research is published in the journal Light: Science & Applications.