3D nanolithography with metalens arrays and spatially adaptive illumination
Summary
This Nature paper demonstrates a high-throughput three-dimensional nanolithography platform that combines large arrays of high-numerical-aperture metalenses with spatially adaptive illumination (via a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator) to print centimetre-scale 3D structures with sub-micrometre resolution. The authors fabricate metalens arrays (examples: 50 × 50 lenses, NA 1.0; 370 × 350 lenses, NA 0.8), develop phase-to-amplitude modulation for per-spot intensity control, and use algorithmic compression of patterns and active focal-spot modulation to scale throughput. They show subdiffraction voxel control, greyscale printing by SLM tuning, mechanical testing of architected lattices (octet, Kelvin, chainmail), and fabrication of cm2 THz metamaterials. The team reports low variation in linewidth measurements and discusses scaling factors, materials (HSQ-based photoresin), and device fabrication details.
Key Points
- Metalens arrays provide massively parallel high-NA focusing: demonstrated arrays include 50×50 (NA 1.0) and 370×350 (NA 0.8) configurations.
- Spatially adaptive illumination is achieved with a liquid-crystal SLM used for phase-to-amplitude modulation, enabling per-focus intensity control and greyscale voxels.
- Compression and active focal-spot modulation let the stage scan a compressed pattern to print large structures efficiently, improving effective fabrication speed.
- Subdiffraction feature control shown: lateral and axial linewidth standard deviations across samples are ~16.5 nm and ~15.4 nm respectively in surveyed measurements.
- Authors printed cm-scale 3D architectures, mechanical lattices (octet, Kelvin, chainmail) and 1 cm2 THz metamaterials (gold-coated, PDMS-embedded), demonstrating both structural and functional device fabrication.
- Datasets, methods and supplementary information are available from the paper; related patent filings are disclosed.
Content Summary
The authors designed and fabricated dielectric metalens arrays (geometric-phase nanopillar meta-atoms embedded in HSQ) and integrated them into a two-photon lithography (TPL) system. The system architecture uses an SLM to convert phase patterns into spatial intensity control and projects the modulated beam onto the metalens array through a 4f optical relay. Each metalens produces an independently addressable focal voxel; by modulating intensity per lens and scanning a compressed representation of the object, the team prints large-area 3D parts far faster than single-focus TPL systems.
Performance characterisation includes SEMs of nanopillars, focal-spot imaging, measurements of lateral and axial linewidth uniformity, and greyscale printing tests showing tunable voxel size in the subdiffraction regime. They validated mechanical behaviour with tensile tests on architected lattices and demonstrated functional devices such as THz circular-polariser metamaterials that can be detached and embedded for flexible use.
The paper supplies detailed fabrication parameters (metalens unit-cell dimensions, array sizes), algorithmic approaches for compression and toolpath generation, and discussion on near-term throughput scaling and limits. Funding sources, competing-interest disclosures (US patent and three patent applications) and peer-review details are provided in the article metadata.
Context and relevance
This work addresses a key bottleneck in nanoscale additive manufacturing: balancing throughput with submicrometre resolution. By shifting from serial, single-focus two-photon writing to massively parallel metalens arrays with per-spot intensity control, the approach promises orders-of-magnitude gains in printable volume and area while retaining fine feature control. It directly connects to current trends in meta-optics, high-NA large-area metasurfaces, and scalable nanofabrication for photonics, metamaterials, microsystems and mechanical metamaterials.
For researchers and engineers working on nanoprinting, metamaterials, photonic components, MEMS and advanced manufacturing, the techniques and datasets here offer practical advances in optical system design, resin formulation, and workflow (toolpath compression and SLM-based greyscale control) needed to move from lab-scale demonstrations towards device-scale production.
Why should I read this?
If you care about making tiny, complicated 3D things faster without sacrificing detail, this is worth five minutes. The team shows how to go from single-point slow-printing to a parallelised, programmable light-front that prints centimetre-scale, submicrometre structures — and they back it with real measurements, mechanical tests and working metamaterials. It’s a practical leap for anyone interested in scaling nanofabrication.
Author style
Punchy: the paper is technically dense but results-driven — it focuses on engineering solutions (metalens design, SLM modulation, compression algorithms) that materially improve throughput and versatility. Read the methods and supplementary for actionable parameters if you plan to reproduce or adapt the system.