31 July 2019 : [Materials IF 2.467] Special Issue Materials for Photolithography and 3D Printing

Dear Colleagues,

Photolithography (PL) is a well-established optical means for transferring patterns onto a substrate. First conceived for producing printed circuits, it is a key process in the semiconductor industry where it is used for creating small structures on a silicon wafer using a photomask, which contains the pattern to be transferred, and a photosensitive material (the photoresist). The photoresist is an organic monomer or polymer, which changes its chemical structure when exposed to light, either becoming soluble or insoluble. Features appear upon selective exposure to light and removal of the soluble material, then the pattern obtained can subsequently be processed (e.g., used as a mask for substrate etching).

As PL can produce extremely small patterns down to tens of nanometers in size, and it provides exact control over the shape and size of the pattern, its applications over the years have extended from electronics to a variety of domains of micro- and nano-fabrication, such as microfluidics, photovoltaics, optics, sensors, and tissue engineering.

In 1986, photolithography went 3D and the term “stereolithography” (SLA) was coined in C. W. Hull’s patent: the technique became a method for making solid objects slice by slice, by successively “printing” thin layers of a light sensitive material one on top of the other. SLA, together with other methodologies associated to photopolymerization processes, is one of the most reliable and versatile techniques of additive manufacturing, often referred as 3D printing. 3D printing, encompassing a wide range of technologies, is regarded as a new ‘turning point’ in industrial production, which will “disrupt business as we know it” (from Forbes, 29 June 2015).

We believe that the growth of 3D printing will also depend on the performance of the materials employed and the development of new materials. Aiming to highlight this concept, this Special Issue will focus on the monomeric and polymeric materials currently used in photolithography, stereolithography, 3D printing, and other additive manufacturing techniques, as well as featuring emerging material-based developments.

We kindly invite you to submit a manuscript(s) for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Prof. Dr. Roberta Bongiovanni
Dr. Alessandra Vitale
Guest Editors

Submission steps:

1. Register via our system https://susy.mdpi.com/ and login;

2. Click "Submit to Special Issue" at:
http://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials/special_issues/Photolithography_3D_Printing

We will highly appreciate it if you can forward the message to your colleagues. We look
forward to hearing from you. Have a nice day!