3D Printing by Two-Photon Polymerization

Compared with conventional microfabrication techniques, two-photon polymerization has attracted significant interest due to its capability of building arbitrary, complex and ultraprecise three-dimensional (3D) microstructures with sub-100 nm resolution. The process exploits femtosecond laser pulses and a photo resist that is transparent at the laser wavelength (515 nm) but absorbs two photons at high intensity to polymerize, resulting in the possibility of fabricating devices for advanced photonics and biomedical applications. In this paper, the manufacturing of 3D microstructures through two-photon polymerization is discussed.