METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECT AND APPARATUS FOR CONDUCTING SAID METHOD

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a three-dimensional object comprises the steps of (a) bringing at least one nozzle in a first position close to a surface of a substrate, (b) delivering through said at least one nozzle at least one reactant to said surface, (c) effecting a solid forming reaction of said at least one delivered reactant such that said at least one delivered reactant undergoes a transition to become a growing solid deposit on said surface under said at least one nozzle, and (d) detecting an interaction of said growing solid deposit with said at least one nozzle.

Claims

1. Method for manufacturing a three-dimensional object, comprising the steps of: a. bringing at least one nozzle in a first position close to a surface of a substrate; b. delivering through said at least one nozzle at least one reactant to said surface; c. effecting a solid forming reaction of said at least one delivered reactant such that said at least one delivered reactant undergoes a transition to become a growing solid deposit on said surface under said at least one nozzle; and d. detecting an interaction of said growing solid deposit with said at least one nozzle.

2. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the delivery of said at least one reactant is stopped and/or said at least one nozzle is moved from said first position to a second position, when an interaction of said the growing solid deposit with said at least one nozzle is detected.

3. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said solid forming reaction comprises an electrodeposition.

4. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a steady flow of said at least one reactant through said at least one nozzle is achieved by applying an overpressure to a reservoir of said at least one reactant, which reservoir is in fluid connection with said at least one nozzle.

5. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one reactant comprises a metal salt solution containing metal ions as the base material for deposition of metals, or a precursor solution for the deposition of electrodepositable alloys.

6. Method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said deposited metals comprise Ag, As, Au, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, In, Ir, Mn, Ni, Os, Pb, Pd, Pt, Re, Rh, Ru, Sb, Se, Sn, Tc, Te, Ti, Tl, Zn, and that said deposited alloys comprise brass, bronze, gold alloys, CdTi, CoW, ZnNi, SnNi, AgPb, NiCo, NiP, NiFe, NiTi, SnPb.

7. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one reactant comprises a solution containing precursors for the electrodeposition of conducting polymers, especially polypyrrole, polyaniline or poly-3,4ethylendioxythiophen (PEDOT).

8. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein during step (b) the flow rate of said at least one reactant is changed in order to change a concentration profile of said at least one reactant close to said at least one nozzle for dynamically changing the size of said solid deposit.

9. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of parallel nozzles is provided, and that said plurality of parallel nozzles is used simultaneously to increase fabrication speed and/or to allow parallel fabrication of multiple structures.

10. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one nozzle comprises a negative geometry that is used to emboss certain features on said solid deposit.

11. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said interaction of said growing solid deposit with said at least one nozzle comprises a force exerted on said at least one nozzle.

12. Apparatus for conducting a method according to claim 1, comprising at least one nozzle and a substrate, whereby said at least one nozzle is fluidly connected to a reservoir containing a reactant, and whereby said at least one nozzle is moveable over a surface of said substrate close to said surface, wherein said apparatus further comprises first means for effecting a solid forming reaction of said reactant, when said reactant has been delivered by said at least one nozzle, and second means for detecting an interaction of said formed solid with said at least one nozzle.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said first means comprises said surface being electrically conductive, an electrolyte bath, which covers said surface of said substrate and fills the space around said at least one nozzle, and a potentiostat with a working electrode, a reference electrode and/or a counter electrode, whereby said working electrode is electrically connected to said surface, and said reference electrode and/or counter electrode are immersed in said electrolyte bath between said at least one nozzle and said surface.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said second means comprises an atomic force microscope with a hollow cantilever having a tip, which tip, provides said at least one nozzle, and with detecting means for detecting a deflection of said cantilever.

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein a pressure controller is connected to said reservoir, and that said pressure controller and said first and second means are connected to a main controller.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] The present invention is now to be explained more closely by means of different embodiments and with reference to the attached drawings.

[0036] FIG. 1 illustrates in a simplified diagram the concept according to an embodiment of the invention, wherein a nozzle, especially a hollow cantilever, is used to deliver a reactant locally to a substrate, which is covered by a solution, leading to a localized reaction forming a solid deposit;

[0037] FIG. 2 is a view from below on an exemplary cantilever with a tip and a nozzle provided therein;

[0038] FIG. 3 shows the electrochemical setup for the concept according to FIG. 1, whereby the cantilever is mounted on an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM);

[0039] FIG. 4 shows the complete electrochemical and control setup using an AFM for the concept according to FIG. 1;

[0040] FIG. 5 shows particulars of a concept of multiple supply channels for the on-demand delivery of multiple reactants according to another embodiment of the invention, allowing for the creation of hybrid material structures, whereby two channels are provided for supplying two different solutions, with one channel currently supplying reactants to create a structure of material B on top of a structure of material A;

[0041] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary sample structure fabricated according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein a wall of 1 m thickness, 2 m length and 15 m height was fabricated with an apparatus according to FIG. 4.

[0042] FIG. 7 shows three intertwined helical structures that may be fabricated with a process according to an embodiment of the invention, whereby the intertwined arrangement of the helices is enabled by a layer-by-layer strategy of this approach, i.e. the helices are produced in parallel rather than one by one;

[0043] FIG. 8 shows a sample structure generated for various flow rates that were set by varying pump pressures; it is apparent that the generated pillar structures vary in size for different applied flow rates; and

[0044] FIG. 9 shows a typical deflection signal for a solid deposit touching a FluidFM cantilever of an AFM.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DIFFERENT EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0045] In general, the objective of an automated additive manufacturing of structures on the micrometer scale in accordance with the present invention is achieved in a manufacturing apparatus 10 as follows (see FIG. 1): A nozzle 15a, which may be part of a tip 14 of a hollow cantilever 13 and is supplied with a fluid reactant 17 through a channel 15 in said cantilever, is brought close to a surface 12a of a substrate 12. The nozzle 15a is used to deliver at least one reactant 17 to the surface 12a, where a reaction takes place such that the delivered reactant undergoes a transition to become a solid deposit 16 on said surface 12a just under the nozzle 15a.

[0046] Eventually, the growing solid deposit 16 will interact with the nozzle 15a or tip 14, which features a detection method to immediately register this interaction event. This information (about the actual height of the solid deposit) may then be used to automate the deposition process, i.e. the nozzle 15a may be moved to a new location immediately after the interaction has been detected. The solid forming reaction now takes place at the new nozzle location, generally at the same height as the previous position. Eventually, when all desired locations on the current height have been filled with the solid material to be deposited, the next position may be approached on a higher level. In this way, a desired or predetermined three-dimensional shape may be fabricated by the defined movement of the nozzle 15a.

[0047] If the nozzle (15a in FIG. 1) is provided with a negative geometry 26 (dotted line in FIG. 1) the growing solid deposit may eventually fill this negative geometry 26, so that the resulting structure may be embossed by said negative geometry 26

[0048] In one embodiment of the invention, the reactant may comprise dissolved metal ions and the solid forming reaction may be electroplating. To achieve the electroplating, the nozzle 15a and the substrate 12 are placed in an electrolyte bath 11 (FIGS. 1, 3 and 4). The nozzle 15a is used to provide metal ions locally by applying a flow of metal salt solution from the nozzle 15a. The nozzle 15a is brought close to an electrically conductive surface 12a of a substrate 12. A non-conductive substrate 12 may be coated with a conductive surface layer 12a, or the substrate 12 itself may be conductive.

[0049] A potential is applied to said conductive substrate 12 or surface 12a by means of a voltage source (potentiostat 19, working electrode WE) and at least one additional electrode (reference electrode RE and/or counter electrode CE) in the electrolyte bath 11 such that the metal ions undergo a reduction reaction on the substrate 12, leading to a local solid metal deposit 16. The growth of said deposit 16 may be detected as soon as the deposit interacts with the nozzle 15a or tip 14 such that the next desired position of metal deposition may be approached. The interaction between solid deposit 16 and tip 14 causes a deflection of cantilever 13, which may be detected by a reflected laser beam 18 (FIG. 3), which mechanism is for example part of an atomic force microscope (AFM).

EXAMPLES

[0050] In one embodiment (apparatus 10) of the invention (FIG. 3), a copper sulfate electroplating solution (1M CuSO.sub.4 in 0.8M H.sub.2SO.sub.4) may be delivered by the nozzle 15a, providing metal ions as the reactants. The nozzle 15a is placed in an electrolyte bath 11 (H.sub.2SO.sub.4 at pH.sub.3). A conductive substrate 12 is used and polarized at a sufficiently cathodic potential by at least one additional electrode CE, RE, which is placed in the electrolyte bath 11, such that the metal ions provided by the nozzle 15a are reduced locally, resulting in a solid metal deposit 16 growing under the nozzle 15a.

[0051] For example, a silver wire may be employed as the reference electrode RE and a platinum wire may be employed as a counter electrode CE, while a gold film serves as the working electrode WE. The substrate 12 is polarized at a potential of 0.6V versus the used silver wire reference electrode RE with the use of potentiostat 19.

[0052] In one embodiment, FluidFM probes (Meister, A. et al. Nano Lett. 2009, 9, 2501; WO 2010/012423 A1; available from Cytosurge, Switzerland) with a 300 nm square aperture may be used as the nozzle 15a (FIG. 2) and the capability to measure the deflection of the probes via a reflected laser beam 18 may be used to detect touching events between the growing metal deposit 16 and the probe (cantilever 13) for automated fabrication of a three-dimensional metal structure.

[0053] In the apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 4 a hollow cantilever 13 with its tip 14 is x,y,z-positioned and its deflection is monitored by an AFM head of an atomic force microscope (AFM) 20 using the standard optical beam deflection method (laser beam 18). A pressure controller 22 connected to a reactant reservoir 25 by means of a pressure supply line 23 is used to set the flow of metal ions from the probe aperture (nozzle 15a) and a potentiostat 19 is used to polarize the substrate 12 such that the metal ions are reduced locally under the probe. The system components 19, 20 and 22 are synchronized and controlled by a main controller 21, which may be a PC, or the like. In this way 3D printing may be automated by a dedicated software program.

[0054] FIG. 9 shows the cantilever deflection signal of an AFM for a sample interaction event (touching event), where the growing deposit leads to an upward deflection of the cantilever upon contact at time T.sub.1=1 S. At time T.sub.2=1.5 S, the cantilever is moved to the next printing position and thus the cantilever deflection signal goes back to the initial state.

[0055] FIG. 5 illustrates the concept of multiple supply channels or nozzles 24a, 24b for the on-demand delivery of multiple reactants, allowing for the creation of hybrid material structures. In this example, two channels 24a and 24b in a tip 14 containing (supplying) two different solutions or reactants A and B are depicted, with channel 24b currently supplying reactants to create a structure of material B (solid deposit 16b) on top of a structure of material A (solid deposit 16a).

[0056] FIG. 6 shows a Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) image of a sample structure fabricated using apparatus 10 of FIG. 4. A wall of 1 m thickness, 20 m length and 15 m height was fabricated by moving a FluidFM probe featuring a 600 nm square aperture along the wall length in 1 m steps each time a touching event was registered. After 20 steps, the probe was lifted by 0.25 m and the deposition process was repeated for all 20 positions on the new height level. This process was continued until the wall reached the desired final height of 15 m, whereupon the flow of reactants was interrupted and the fabrication process was completed. The material of the wall was Cu and solutions of CuSO.sub.4 1.08M in H.sub.2SO.sub.4 0.8M in the cantilever of the FluidFM probe, and H.sub.2SO.sub.4 pH.sub.3 in the surrounding droplet (electrolyte bath) were used.

[0057] FIG. 7 shows three intertwined helical structures (of copper) that may be fabricated with a process according to the present invention. The intertwined arrangement of the helices is enabled by the layer-by-layer strategy of this approach; i.e. the helices were produced in parallel rather than one by one.

[0058] In another embodiment of the inventive method, the delivery of the reactant through the nozzle may be controlled dynamically by varying the flow rate of reactant, for example by employing a pump. This enables a varying speed of the deposition reaction and a varying size of the created deposits such that these parameters can be set according to the demands of the structure to be fabricated.

[0059] FIG. 8 shows a sample structure with various copper pillars generated for various flow rates that were set by varying pump pressures. It is apparent that the generated pillar structures vary in size for different applied flow rates.

[0060] In summary, the present invention comprises the following characteristic features and variants: [0061] The method is a procedure to fabricate three-dimensional structures of arbitrary geometries using delivery of a reactant to a location where a solid forming reaction can take place such that the growth of the structure can be detected by the system. [0062] The solid forming reaction may be electrodeposition. [0063] One or several base reactants from which the structure is fabricated are provided through an aperture that is brought close to a surface. [0064] The reactant may be a metal salt solution containing metal ions as the base material for deposition of metals (Ag, As, Au, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, In, Ir, Mn, Ni, Os, Pb, Pd, Pt, Re, Rh, Ru, Sb, Se, Sn, Tc, Te, Ti, TI, Zn); or a precursor solution for the deposition of alloys including brass, bronze, electrodepositable gold alloys, CdTi, CoW, ZnNi, SnNi, AgPb, NiCo, NiP, NiFe, NiTi, SnPb and other electrodepositable alloys; or a solution containing precursors for the electrodeposition of conducting polymers (polypyrrole, polyaniline, PEDOT, etc.) [0065] Within the method a steady flow of reactants through the aperture is achieved by applying an overpressure to the reservoir of reactants. [0066] A surface may be provided and polarized in such a way that the provided base reactant becomes a solid deposit on the surface in an electrochemical reaction. [0067] The growth of the structure may be detected by touching events between the structure and the aperture such that the process may be automated e.g. by using FluidFM cantilevers by observing the deflection signal [0068] Alternatively, the change in the mechanical resonance frequency of FluidFM cantilevers may be observed; or the change in the oscillation amplitude at a given frequency of FluidFM cantilevers may be observed; or the change in the mechanical resonance of glass micropipettes that are excited by a dither piezo-element may be observed; the frequency shift of a quartz resonator attached to a glass pipette may be observed; or the change in ion conductance through the aperture may be observed. [0069] The position of the aperture may be shifted after each growth detection event such that the desired structure is fabricated in a layer-by-layer (or voxel-by voxel) fashion. [0070] The reactant flow may be changed to change the concentration profile of reactants close to the aperture for dynamically changing the size of deposited features. [0071] The edge of the aperture may contain the negative geometry of desired structures that can be employed to emboss features (stamp probes). [0072] The solid may be a metal, polymer, hydrogel, glass, ceramics, or mineral.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0073] 10,10 manufacturing apparatus

[0074] 10 manufacturing apparatus

[0075] 11 electrolyte bath

[0076] 12 substrate

[0077] 12a surface (substrate)

[0078] 13 cantilever

[0079] 14,14 tip

[0080] 15 channel

[0081] 15a nozzle

[0082] 16 solid deposit

[0083] 16a,b solid deposit

[0084] 17 reactant

[0085] 18 laser beam

[0086] 19 potentiostat

[0087] 20 atomic force microscope (AFM)

[0088] 21 main controller (e.g. PC)

[0089] 22 pressure controller

[0090] 23 pressure supply line

[0091] 24a,b nozzle (supply channel)

[0092] 25 reservoir (reactant)

[0093] 26 negative geometry

[0094] A,B reactant

[0095] CE counter electrode

[0096] RE reference electrode

[0097] T.sub.1, T.sub.2 point of time

[0098] WE working electrode