3D inkjet-printing of photo-crosslinkable resins for microlens fabrication

Magazine, Rishabh; Bochove, Bas van; Borandeh, Sedigheh; Seppälä, Jukka

doi:10.1016/j.addma.2021.102534

Cited by 29 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…Thermal inkjet printers can deposit ink volumes between 10 and 150 pL from the nozzle, however this is dependent on temperature gradient, current pulse and ink viscosity [54]. The limiting factor to thermal inkjet technology is the large droplet size which is typically as large as the printing nozzle itself and the need for the printing ink to withstand high temperatures [55]. Therefore, inkjet printing has been advanced to electrohydrodynamic printing as this technique has the ability to print at a dimension smaller than the nozzle at room temperature and high speed [6].…”

Section: Thermal Inkjet Printingmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Precision 3D Printing for Micro to Nano Scale Biomedical and Electronic Devices

et al. 2022

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Three dimensional printing (3DP), or additive manufacturing, is an exponentially growing process in the fabrication of various technologies with applications in sectors such as electronics, biomedical, pharmaceutical and tissue engineering. Micro and nano scale printing is encouraging the innovation of the aforementioned sectors, due to the ability to control design, material and chemical properties at a highly precise level, which is advantageous in creating a high surface area to volume ratio and altering the overall products’ mechanical and physical properties. In this review, micro/-nano printing technology,mainly related to lithography, inkjet and electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing and their biomedical and electronic applications will be discussed. The current limitations to micro/-nano printing methods will be examined, covering the difficulty in achieving controlled structures at the miniscule micro and nano scale required for specific applications.

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Section: Thermal Inkjet Printingmentioning

confidence: 99%

High Precision 3D Printing for Micro to Nano Scale Biomedical and Electronic Devices

et al. 2022

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“…However, the thermal reflow process requires high temperatures, and it is challenging to fabricate microlenses (MLs) with high numerical apertures (NA). [ 12 ] Other approaches, including hot embossing, [ 13 ] electrowetting, [ 14 ] and soft lithography [ 15 ] have been adopted to fabricate MLAs with a FF of nearly 100%. However, these approaches do not allow for additive manufacturing on various substrates and fast prototyping of MLAs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, inkjet printing, which also allows for maskless additive manufacturing of MLAs, offers a variety of advantages. [ 12,17 ] First, inkjet printing is a straightforward and versatile process where the fabrication of MLAs is digitally controlled in a real‐time manner, which allows for fast prototyping of MLAs. Second, only the material amount needed for the MLs is used in printing, thereby preventing the material waste to a large extent and improving the cost‐effectiveness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of Microlens Arrays with High Quality and High Fill Factor by Inkjet Printing

Zhang

Schambach

Schlisske

et al. 2022

Advanced Optical Materials

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Microlens arrays (MLAs) have a variety of applications in, e.g., display systems, projection optics, and sensors. They can be manufactured by various fabrication methods. Among all, inkjet printing stands out because it offers a straightforward, versatile, and low‐cost fabrication route. However, extra manufacturing steps such as photolithography are so far involved to pre‐structure the substrate in order to improve the uniformity of the printed MLAs and achieve a high fill factor (FF). In this study, the fabrication of MLAs is reported on unstructured substrates by inkjet printing using an optimized UV‐curable ink on top of self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs). The latter allows for tuning the surface free energy and thus the aspect ratio of the microlenses. The high uniformity of the printed MLAs is demonstrated by the automatic quantitative evaluations, where the standard deviations of the radii are below 2.5% and of the sag heights are less than 3.9%. An unprecedented FF of 88% amongst all inkjet‐printed MLAs on unstructured substrates is achieved. Digitally controlled large area fabrication is demonstrated, both, on rigid as well as on flexible substrates, opening a pathway for customized microoptics by additive manufacturing.

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“…[ 1–3 ] However, the manufacturing efficiency, form accuracy, and surface roughness are the inherent limitations of the 3D printed components for high‐performance optical applications. [ 4,5 ] Unlike the point‐by‐point scanning in the two‐photon polymerization (TPP) [ 1,6 ] and inkjet‐based printing, [ 7,8 ] the projection stereolithography using a stepwise layer‐by‐layer approach is regarded as a more efficient way for the high‐speed manufacturing of refractive polymeric lenses. [ 5,9 ]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…

inkjet-based printing, [7,8] the projection stereolithography using a stepwise layerby-layer approach is regarded as a more efficient way for the high-speed manufacturing of refractive polymeric lenses. [5,9] Although the layerwise projection stereolithography achieved a thousand fold increase in manufacturing efficiency, it still required hours to print millimetersized lenses due to the slow speed of component separation and resin refilling in each layer.

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confidence: 99%

Low‐Cost Volumetric 3D Printing of High‐Precision Miniature Lenses in Seconds

Huang

et al. 2022

Advanced Optical Materials

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3D printing is a promising method for the generation of complex‐shaped optical components. However, the printing efficiency, form accuracy, and surface smoothness are still challenging, especially for the printing of optical components. In this study, by synergizing the volumetric projection stereolithography, meniscus equilibrium effect, and iterative learning scheme, a low‐cost volumetric 3D printing method is developed for the ultra‐fast and high‐precision fabrication of miniature lenses with sub‐nanometric roughness. By including the covered liquid film as a part of the printed lens in the iterative learning, a low form error at the micrometer scale is achieved for the printed lens without any prior knowledge of the 3D printing process. As a demonstration, a sphere lens at the millimeter scale is directly printed in 2 s, achieving a peak‐to‐valley profile error of less than 5 µm, a sub‐nanometric roughness of rms = 0.614 nm, and an imaging resolution of 203.2 lp mm−1. It suggests that besides fast prototyping, the developed 3D printing strategy is suitable for the massive production of precise lenses.

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3D inkjet-printing of photo-crosslinkable resins for microlens fabrication

Cited by 29 publications

References 89 publications

High Precision 3D Printing for Micro to Nano Scale Biomedical and Electronic Devices

High Precision 3D Printing for Micro to Nano Scale Biomedical and Electronic Devices

Fabrication of Microlens Arrays with High Quality and High Fill Factor by Inkjet Printing

Low‐Cost Volumetric 3D Printing of High‐Precision Miniature Lenses in Seconds

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