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3D Laser Printer Project Targets Low-Cost Microsystems Production
Femtoprint, a European venture aimed at designing a 3D laser printer that will print microsystems such as microstructures and micro-robotics in glass, is set to get underway. The project will be coordinated by Dr. Yves Bellouard of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands.
The Femtoprint 3D laser printer project will be coordinated by Dr. Yves Bellouard
The project is expected to revolutionize the economics for making and applying microsystems to various sectors.
Today, the market for microstructures is include ‘lab-on-a-chip,’ which can do tests on extremely small samples, and accelerometers, which detect when a laptop is falling and help ensure hard disks won’t lose data. But the cost and complexity of designing and manufacturing microsystems is holding back what could be even more explosive growth for microsystems use, Dr. Bellouard said.
His goal for Femotprint will be to develop a 'femtoprinter' which will reduce the cost and complexity of the machinery required to make microsystems.
Today, making microsystems requires large, expensive machinery and even a special cleanroom. This, Dr. Bellouard said, is a key reason why the development of microsystems has been relatively slow, and limited to only those large companies with resources.
To open the market to more cost-effective approaches, and bring in more manufacturers, proposes an alternative: a femtosecond laser specially applied with three-dimensional patterns in glass.
Inside Femtoprint’s Vision and Science
Dr Bellouard and his team have shown the properties of glass change when exposed to femtosecond laser light, depending on intensity. This means a pattern can becomes a road network for the conduction of light, and the principal may be applied in optical computer chips and optical motion sensors, Dr. Bellouard said.
Further, femtosecond laser light can also influence the chemical properties of the glass, particularly its sensitivity to acids. The applied 3D pattern can then simply be etched away in one go, whereas conventional methods still build up the patterns layer by layer. This is where the connection between research and commercialization is most at play, Dr. Bellouard said. Because the 3D patterns can be applied to the interior of the glass, there is no contact with the air, which also eliminates the need (and cost) of a cleanroom.
Bellouard and his colleagues have already proved that this method is viable for making a lab-on-a-chip.
Femtoprint aims to reduce size of the required laser to a shoebox. Now, the required laser occupies a laboratory table. The French laser manufacturer Amplitude Systèmes will be responsible for this part of the project. The project partners also include French, Swiss, German and English parties. Bellouard's group will focus mainly on the research into the effects of the laser light on 'fused silica', the high-grade glass that is used for the microsystems
About Dr. Yves Bellourd
Dr. Bellouard’s current research interests are on system integration at the micro-/ nano-scale, smart materials and femtosecond laser interaction with glass substrate. Since September 2006, Dr. Bellouard has coordinated the GOLEM project, a European research initiative on Bio-Inspired Assembly of meso-scale components. The project involves eleven partners across Europe.
Before joining Eindhoven University of Technology in May 2005, he worked for nearly four years as a Research Scientist at the Center for Automation Technologies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York where he also taught Precision Engineering and Micro-Robotics. There, together with Ben Potsaid and John Wen at RPI, he invented the ASOM microscope , nowadays a product sold by Thorlabs Inc.
He is the recipient of the Omega Scientific Prize (2001) awarded by the Omega Foundation for outstanding individual contributions in the field of Micro-engineering, Condensed Matter Physics and Chronometry for his work on Shape Memory Alloys.
Today, the market for microstructures is include ‘lab-on-a-chip,’ which can do tests on extremely small samples, and accelerometers, which detect when a laptop is falling and help ensure hard disks won’t lose data. But the cost and complexity of designing and manufacturing microsystems is holding back what could be even more explosive growth for microsystems use, Dr. Bellouard said.
His goal for Femotprint will be to develop a 'femtoprinter' which will reduce the cost and complexity of the machinery required to make microsystems.
Today, making microsystems requires large, expensive machinery and even a special cleanroom. This, Dr. Bellouard said, is a key reason why the development of microsystems has been relatively slow, and limited to only those large companies with resources.
To open the market to more cost-effective approaches, and bring in more manufacturers, proposes an alternative: a femtosecond laser specially applied with three-dimensional patterns in glass.
Inside Femtoprint’s Vision and Science
Dr Bellouard and his team have shown the properties of glass change when exposed to femtosecond laser light, depending on intensity. This means a pattern can becomes a road network for the conduction of light, and the principal may be applied in optical computer chips and optical motion sensors, Dr. Bellouard said.
Further, femtosecond laser light can also influence the chemical properties of the glass, particularly its sensitivity to acids. The applied 3D pattern can then simply be etched away in one go, whereas conventional methods still build up the patterns layer by layer. This is where the connection between research and commercialization is most at play, Dr. Bellouard said. Because the 3D patterns can be applied to the interior of the glass, there is no contact with the air, which also eliminates the need (and cost) of a cleanroom.
Bellouard and his colleagues have already proved that this method is viable for making a lab-on-a-chip.
Femtoprint aims to reduce size of the required laser to a shoebox. Now, the required laser occupies a laboratory table. The French laser manufacturer Amplitude Systèmes will be responsible for this part of the project. The project partners also include French, Swiss, German and English parties. Bellouard's group will focus mainly on the research into the effects of the laser light on 'fused silica', the high-grade glass that is used for the microsystems
About Dr. Yves Bellourd
Dr. Bellouard’s current research interests are on system integration at the micro-/ nano-scale, smart materials and femtosecond laser interaction with glass substrate. Since September 2006, Dr. Bellouard has coordinated the GOLEM project, a European research initiative on Bio-Inspired Assembly of meso-scale components. The project involves eleven partners across Europe.
Before joining Eindhoven University of Technology in May 2005, he worked for nearly four years as a Research Scientist at the Center for Automation Technologies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York where he also taught Precision Engineering and Micro-Robotics. There, together with Ben Potsaid and John Wen at RPI, he invented the ASOM microscope , nowadays a product sold by Thorlabs Inc.
He is the recipient of the Omega Scientific Prize (2001) awarded by the Omega Foundation for outstanding individual contributions in the field of Micro-engineering, Condensed Matter Physics and Chronometry for his work on Shape Memory Alloys.