A sinterless, low-temperature route to 3D print nanoscale optical-grade glass

Three-dimensional (3D) printing of silica glass is dominated by techniques that rely on traditional particle sintering. At the nanoscale, this limits their adoption within microsystem technology, which prevents technological breakthroughs. We introduce the sinterless, two-photon polymerization 3D printing of free-form fused silica nanostructures from a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) resin. Contrary to particle-loaded sacrificial binders, our POSS resin itself constitutes a continuous silicon-oxygen molecular network that forms transparent fused silica at only 650°C. This temperature is 500°C lower than the sintering temperatures for fusing discrete silica particles to a continuum, which brings…