Micro and nanoscale 3D printing using optical pickup unit from a gaming console

Conventional photopolymerization-based 3D printing still requires developing a concise and cost-effective method to improve the printing resolution at the nanoscale. Here, we propose the use of a gaming console optical drive pickup unit for 3D photopolymerization. This mass-produced optical pickup unit features a finely adjustable diode laser, allowing us to adjust the printing resolution from tens of micrometres down to hundreds of nanometres without requiring oxygen radical scavenging or costly femtosecond lasers. We evaluate the 3D printing performance using a commercial photopolymer under different laser exposure parameters. The proposed printing system achieves a resolution of 385 nm along the lateral direction and XYZ nano-resolution linear stages enable a printing volume of up to 50 × 50 × 25 mm3. Finally, we demonstrate the fabrication of 3D stereoscopic microstructures. The substantially simplified optics proposed here paves the way for affordable high-resolution micro/nanoscale 3D fabrication. While 3D printing applications range from aerospace manufacturing to the design of drug delivery systems, current technologies reaching the micro and nanoscale resolution are limited by the complexity and cost of their components. Here, the authors show that nanoscale cost-effective 3D printing can be achieved by using a gaming console optical drive pickup for 3D photopolymerization.