Additive manufacturing of glass with nanoscale features: recent progress and prospects

Abstract

Additive manufacturing of glass enables 3D micro and nanoscale architectures with optical, photonic, and microfluidic functions beyond the reach of conventional glass processing. However, practical implementation remains constrained by the coupled limitations of achievable resolution, precursor conversion fidelity, thermally induced shrinkage, and manufacturing scalability, as well as by the limited compositional design space of printable glass precursors. Recent progress in photopolymerization based approaches, particularly single photon and two photon polymerizations, has enabled sub micrometer and nanoscale glass structuring through advances in precursor chemistry and post processing control. This review outlines the photopolymerization mechanisms, precursor design principles, and process structure coupling strategies that govern dimensional fidelity and surface quality in nanoscale glass additive manufacturing. Representative progress in micro and nanoscale optical, photonic, and microfluidic devices is summarized to illustrate how nanoscale glass additive manufacturing bridges process control and multifunctional device architectures. Key challenges associated with device level integration and structural fidelity in multifunctional glass microarchitectures are also discussed.