TECHNOLOGY/BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Metalens-enabled TPP printing

Opportunity:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC under contract no. DE-AC52-07NA27344 (Contract 44) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is offering the opportunity to enter into a collaboration to further develop and commercialize its Metalens-enabled TPP printing.

Background:

LLNL has been at the forefront in developing two-photon polymerization (TPP) additive manufacturing (AM) method.  In 2018, LLNL was a recipient of a Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) award for their development of FemtoProWrite, which leverages TPP.  TPP is a laser light-directed writing technique in which crosslinking reactions initiated by light lead to a change from liquid to solid within a region that is smaller than the light spot.  The method is very high resolution, capable of fabricating micro- and nano-scale features.

However, conventional TPP AM printers have extremely slow printing speeds with limited part size since they utilize a single laser spot approach where the laser is directed through a conventional microscope objective and the 3D printed part is built by scanning within the resin material.  There is a market need to maintain the high sub-micron printing resolution offered by TPP, while increasing the throughput and dimensions of the printed components.

Description:

LLNL researchers have developed a parallelized TPP system that combines metalens array and spatial light modulator (SLM) to manipulate the directed laser light, which enables high-volume fabrication of nano-architected structures at wafer-scale.  Instead of using a single microscope objective, LLNL’s approach uses an array of metalens that the laser passes through with each metalens being independently controlled via a SLM.  This parallelization of printing allows for large scale, high throughput writing of periodic and non-repeating patterns that exceed the capabilities of conventional TPP platforms.  This novel approach significantly increases throughput without sacrificing resolution or introducing stitching errors.

Advantages/Benefits: 

1. 1000X speed compared to currently available TPP printers
2. Wafer-scale
3. 100 nm-resolution
4. Free of stitching defects

Potential Applications: 

Using the fine resolution of submicron AM, the technology can be used in a wide variety of fields to fabricate functional micro- and nanoscale 3D structures for photonic crystals, micro-optics, mechanical metamaterials, micro fluidics, miniaturized optics, flexible micro-electronics, Micro-electromechanical Systems (MEMS), on-demand 3D chip packaging solutions, custom micro-heatsinks for the next-generation semiconductor and high-density 3D optical memory. TPP can also be used to produce architected materials for energy solutions (e.g., battery and CO2 electrolyzer electrodes) and biomedical engineering (e.g., neural probes).

Development Status: 

Current stage of technology development: TRL ☐ 0-2     ☒ 3-5     ☐ 5-9

LLNL has filed for patent protection on this invention.

U.S. Patent Application No. 2022/0252761 System and method for parallel two-photon lithography using a metalens array published 8/11/2022

LLNL is seeking industry partners with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Moving critical technology beyond the Laboratory to the commercial world helps our licensees gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. All licensing activities are conducted under policies relating to the strict nondisclosure of company proprietary information. 

Please visit the IPO website at https://ipo.llnl.gov/resources for more information on working with LLNL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Note:  THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT.  Companies interested in commercializing LLNL's Metalens-enabled TPP printing should provide an electronic OR written statement of interest, which includes the following:

1. Company Name and address.
2. The name, address, and telephone number of a point of contact.
3. A description of corporate expertise and/or facilities relevant to commercializing this technology.

Please provide a complete electronic OR written statement to ensure consideration of your interest in LLNL's Metalens-enabled TPP printing.

The subject heading in an email response should include the Notice ID and/or the title of LLNL’s Technology/Business Opportunity and directed to the Primary and Secondary Point of Contacts listed below.

Written responses should be directed to:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Innovation and Partnerships Office

P.O. Box 808, L-779

Livermore, CA  94551-0808

Attention: IL-13643Plus