# Single-digit-micrometer-resolution continuous liquid interface production

## TL;DR

A new 3D printer uses CLIP technology to create tiny, detailed structures quickly and at scale.

## Contribution

A CLIP-based 3D printer achieves single-digit-micrometer resolution with high speed and scalability.

## Key findings

- The printer creates millimeter-scale 3D prints with single-digit-micrometer features in minutes.
- A simulation model helps optimize resolution and print speed through tunable parameters.
- The technology enables applications in biomedical, MEMS, and microelectronics fields.

## Abstract

To date, a compromise between resolution and print speed has rendered most high-resolution additive manufacturing technologies unscalable with limited applications. By combining a reduction lens optics system for single-digit-micrometer resolution, an in-line camera system for contrast-based sharpness optimization, and continuous liquid interface production (CLIP) technology for high scalability, we introduce a single-digit-micrometer-resolution CLIP-based 3D printer that can create millimeter-scale 3D prints with single-digit-micrometer-resolution features in just a few minutes. A simulation model is developed in parallel to probe the fundamental governing principles in optics, chemical kinetics, and mass transport in the 3D printing process. A print strategy with tunable parameters informed by the simulation model is adopted to achieve both the optimal resolution and the maximum print speed. Together, the high-resolution 3D CLIP printer has opened the door to various applications including, but not limited to, biomedical, MEMS, and microelectronics.

A high-resolution CLIP 3D printer can rapidly and scalably fabricate 3D structures with single-digit-micrometer resolution.