Improvement of spatial resolution in nano-stereolithography using radical quencher

The improvement of spatial resolution is a fundamental issue in the two-photon, polymerization-based, laser writing. In this study, a voxel tuning method using a radical quencher was proposed to increase the resolution, and the quenching effect according to the amount of radical quencher was experimentally investigated. Employing the proposed method, the lateral resolution of the line patterns was improved almost to 100 nm. However, a shortcoming of the quenching effect was the low mechanical strength of polymerized structures due to their short chain lengths. Nano-indentation tests were conducted to evaluate quantitatively the relationship between mechanical strength and the mixture ratio of the radical quencher into the resins. The elastic modulus was dramatically reduced from an average value of 3.015 to 2.078 GPa when 5 wt% of radical quencher was mixed into the resin. Three-dimensional woodpile structures were fabricated to compare the strength between the resin containing radical quencher and the original resin.