3D polymer microframes that exploit length-scale-dependent mechanical behavior

Holographic interference lithography is used to create a 3D polymer micro-frame with sub-micrometer periodicity, low density, and 200 nm feature size. These structures exhibit interesting deformational characteristics (see figure) with ultimate strains reaching ca. 300 %, much higher than the strains attainable in bulk films of either the fully crosslinked solid polymeric material or the uncrosslinked glassy monomer precursor.