Light-Assisted Microfabrication

This track focuses on the exciting advances in LAM for 2D and 3D processing at the micro- and nanoscale. It involves discussing the utilization of light-based fabrication technologies, including new materials and post-processing methods, to fabricate structures and novel architectures with high-resolution suitable for thrilling applications in optics, microfluidics, (bio-)photonics, and more.

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Light-Assisted Microfabrication (LAM) is an innovative and rapidly evolving manufacturing technology that harnesses the power of light, primarily through lasers, to achieve precise interactions with matter. The advancements in LAM have been driven by direct laser writing techniques (DLW), enabling high-resolution processing and paving the way for new technologies. One example of DLW in LAM is laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT), which facilitates the microscale processing of various functional materials such as metals, ceramics, and biomaterials.

Another significant approach involves the nonlinear absorption of multiple photons, enabling the creation of metallic composite micro-patterns on diverse substrates. It also allows for the local processing of photoresists, enabling the maskless printing of 3D structures with submicron features, known as two-photon polymerization (2PP). In particular, 2PP has gained recognition as an interdisciplinary manufacturing technique due to its flexibility in fabricating polymer structures with arbitrary geometries. Recent advancements in light shaping approaches for 2PP have further enhanced its capabilities for high-speed rapid prototyping and sequential fabrication of complex designs with intricate micro- and nano-features. Furthermore, there is a growing interest in LAM technologies to explore low-power-induced light-matter interactions, which would allow LAM to be performed with inexpensive light sources.

The continuous progress in LAM is paving the way for the transfer of lab-to-fab technology, generating real-world applications across various fields. Examples include photonics, optics, biomimetics, mechanics, microfluidics, sensing, wearable and flexible electronics, imaging, energy conversion, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine, among others.

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Invited Speaker

A multi-photon 3D micro-/nano-lithography technique will be introduced by explaining its principles, techniques, applications as a tool for rapid prototyping and technology for advanced additive manufacturing.

A possibility to use any color of spectrum from 500-nm-to-1200-nm with controlled pulse widths of 100-fs will be demonstrated revealing a delicate interplay of photo-physical mechanisms more than just two-photon absorption inducing localized photo-polymerization. An evolution of the polymerised volume during direct laser writing (DLW) via different energy delivery mechanisms will be discussed: one-/two-/three-photon absorption, avalanche ionization, and thermal diffusion leading to controlled photo-polymerization are revealed. The results can be used to tailor polymerized volume for increasing the 3D nano-printing performance. A non-trivial energy deposition by X-photon absorption with an onset of a strong lateral size increase at the higher pulse energy at longer wavelengths and can be understood as due to reaching epsilon-near-zero conditions. Such recent findings are valuable for further developing MPP technology to reduce the footprint size and increase its efficiency. Understanding mechanisms and appearance of λ-tunable commercial lasers are benefiting broad applications in advanced optical additive manufacturing areas of micro-optics, nano-photonic devices, meta-materials, and integrated-chips, and tissue engineering.

Finally controlled refractive index, high transparency and resilient as well as active micro-optical components will be showcased as their production route is enabled X-photon lithography in combination with calcination and atomic layer deposition. The achievements have immediate applications in sensing under harsh conditions, open space, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

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Contributing Speakers

Katharina Ehrmann, TU Wien, Austria, “Two-in-one photoresist: Degradable and non-degradable microstructures from varied laser power.”

Oleh Yermakov, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine, “Merging fiber optics with nanostructures for enhanced light coupling.”

Arynn Gallegos, Stanford University, United States, “Controlling Light Projections for High-Resolution Volumetric 3D Printing.”

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Organizing Committee

Chair:

Gordon Zyla, Institute of Electronic Structure & Laser of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (IESL-FORTH), Greece

Committee:

Paul Somers, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
Ilya Tumkin, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
Diana Gonzalez-Hernandez, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
Franziska Chalupa-Gantner, Technische Universität Wien, Austria