IBM - 3D printer with 1nm accuracy

[WereCat]

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/43767.wss

Sorry if repost.

The nanometer-sized tip, which can be heated to 1000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit), is attached to a bendable cantilever that controllably scans the surface of the substrate material, in this case a polymer invented by chemists at IBM Research in Almaden, California, with the accuracy of one nanometer—one millionth of a millimeter. By applying heat and force, the tip can remove substrate material based on predefined patterns, thus operating like a “nanomilling” machine or a 3D printer with ultrahigh precision. 

Similar to using a 3D printer, more material can be removed to create complex 3D structures with nanometer precision by modulating the force or by readdressing individual spots. 

This new capability may impact the prototyping of new transistor devices, including tunneling field effect transistors, for more energy-efficient and faster electronics for anything from cloud data centers to smartphones. By the end of the year IBM hopes to begin exploring the use of this technology to prototype transistor designs made of graphene like materials. 

I think it's awesome news. I personally don't have much interest in 3D printers right now but I am looking forward to see what this technology can achieve. This is definitely step in right direction. Hopefully we will be able to see printers with such accuracy to become available to consumers for affordable price in near future.

[JR1911]

3D printing is one the technologies that I'm most excited about, so it's great to see advances in it.

[coen113]

such accuracy, wow.

[kuddlesworth9419]

Wait does that mean IBM can 3D print CPU's and GPU's.

[WereCat]

Wait does that mean IBM can 3D print CPU's and GPU's.

Well... they may be able to but I think that there are still a lot of problems with it.

[kuddlesworth9419]

Well... they may be able to but I think that there are still a lot of problems with it.

I am sure there is but at least we know it;s possible and it could be coming soon. 

[ItsComrade]

The applications of this are actually pretty scary...

[WereCat]

The applications of this are actually pretty scary...

Why is it scarry? I can see huge advantage in medicine and manufacturing.

If there is something scarry then its how will 3D printing get regulated by goverments... will now all things be copyrighted and printing some stuff will be illegal like downloading movies? I hope not. I am for not printing guns but thats it.

[Jamdude]

I'm going to ask if my University can get one 3D printers are so great, any word on price?

[KakaoDj]

To everyone who copy pastes: PLEASE remove the formatting after you paste, because i can't see sh¤t with the dark theme

 

That's all, peace  B)

[WereCat]

To everyone who copy pastes: PLEASE remove the formatting after you paste, because i can't see sh¤t with the dark theme

 

That's all, peace  B)

It is not easy to do it with phone especialy when I have data savings enabled and whole page looks like garbage. (Hopefully fixed now).

[Vytautas]

I don't get why is it called printing? Conventional 3D printers add material layer by layer to print 3D objects,  but this does the opposite. I don't think this is as grate as it sounds.