Desktop Electronics Projection Lithography for Rapid 3D Electronic Fabrication

The fabrication of advanced three-dimensional (3D) electronic systems—such as curved circuits, embedded electrodes, quantum computing chips—marks a new era. However, realizing truly 3D electronics has long been hindered by the limitations of planar manufacturing techniques such as photolithography, which demand costly infrastructure and are constrained to flat substrates. Existing approaches for patterning conductive pathways on curved or embedded surfaces, including laser direct structuring, remain slow and unsuitable for scalable or rapid fabrication.

We present Desktop Electronics Projection Lithography (DEPL), a rapid, single-step process for fabricating fully 3D electronic structures. DEPL employs optical patterning of charge-programmable photoresists to define conductive and insulate regions with high spatial precision, enabling selective metal deposition without material switching or multi-step alignment. This unified process allows direct integration of metallic and dielectric components during printing, significantly simplifying 3D electronic manufacturing. DEPL achieves micron-scale conductive patterning, making it compatible with a broad range of emerging applications, including curved electronics, embedded sensors, and miniaturized antennas. By combining speed, precision, and accessibility, DEPL provides a practical pathway toward scalable fabrication of complex 3D electronic devices.