Printers
The First-Ever Chip-Based 3D Printer Can Fit in the Palm of Your Hand
Last week, researchers from MIT and the University of Texas at Austin announced a significant advancement in 3D printing technology with the first-ever chip-based 3D printer. This device, which is no larger than a coin, represents a significant leap in…
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Last week, researchers from MIT and the University of Texas at Austin announced a significant advancement in 3D printing technology with the first-ever chip-based 3D printer. This device, which is no larger than a coin, represents a significant leap in portable, rapid, and customizable object creation.
The prototype device is built around a millimeter-scale photonic chip that can project reconfigurable beams of light into a well of specially formulated resin. This resin solidifies quickly upon exposure to the light, allowing for the rapid formation of complex shapes and structures. The chip uses an array of microscopic optical antennas to steer the light with precision, eliminating the need for traditional moving parts found in conventional 3D printers.
(a) commercial 3D printer for scale, (b) fabricated photonic chip, (c) (c) proposed system with chip-formed hologram in resin, (d) stereolithography-inspired prototype (not to scale).
Regarding the significance of this achievement, Jelena Notaros, senior author of the paper and Robert J. Shillman Career Development Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, explained, “This system is completely rethinking what a 3D printer is. It is no longer a big box sitting on a bench in a lab creating objects, but something that is handheld and portable. It is exciting to think about the new applications that could come out of this and how the field of 3D printing could change.”
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