With a kick-off event on May 6 at the Quantum Photonics trade fair in Erfurt, scientists from Thuringia are launching a large-scale research project to develop a new high-precision machine capable of fabricating nanostructures spanning up to one square meter – with a positioning accuracy smaller than an atom. The machine could be used for a wide variety of purposes in the future: to manufacture electronic or photonic circuits, high-performance optics for Earth observation, or even in the energy research of the future. The research project is scheduled to run through 2032 in three phases – the first of which is being funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with four million euros over three years as part of its “New Devices for Research” program.
With conventional methods, high-precision nanostructures on photonic components can currently only be produced up to a size of 30 centimeters. The new 3D nanolithography and nanomessuring machine – 3D-NLM for short – developed by the Thuringian researchers is intended to enable the processing and measurement of photonic components with dimensions of up to one meter in the future – that is, more than three times as large as before. The TU Ilmenau, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering (IOF) in Jena have now begun development work.
High-precision nanostructuring for a wide range of future applications
Nanostructures are extremely fine structures that manipulate light in a targeted manner by influencing its wavelength. Over the past twenty years, these minuscule structures have become a key factor in overcoming a wide range of technological challenges. Machines for nanostructuring large-area components are already available today. Many modern televisions have displays that incorporate nanotechnology. But these are nowhere near as precise as what is required in the diverse fields of science and industry.
Nanostructures play a central role, for example, in the manufacture of integrated electronic or photonic circuits, high-performance optics for Earth observation, measurement technology, and sensor technology, as well as in space research. For the planned Einstein Telescope – one of Europe’s most ambitious scientific projects: a planned underground observatory designed to observe the universe not with light, but through gravitational waves – the Fraunhofer IOF has developed highly sensitive sensors. High-precision machines made in Thuringia are used to manufacture nanostructured components for international space missions – and in the future, also photonic quantum chips for future quantum computers, a completely new computer technology that will be able to solve problems that today’s supercomputers would fail to solve even over thousands of years
High-precision positioning and measurement technology from Ilmenau – nanolithography from Jena
To enable the creation of nanostructures spanning up to one square meter in the future – enormous geometric dimensions by today’s standards – the Thuringian partners bring decades of comprehensive scientific expertise to the table: The TU Ilmenau in the field of extremely precise nanopositioning and nanometrology, and the Fraunhofer IOF and the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Jena in the field of highly advanced processes for 3D nanolithography.
High-precision nanostructuring for a wide range of future applications
Nanostructures are extremely fine structures that manipulate light in a targeted manner by influencing its wavelength. Over the past twenty years, these minuscule structures have become a key factor in overcoming a wide range of technological challenges. Machines for nanostructuring large-area components are already available today. Many modern televisions have displays that incorporate nanotechnology. But these are nowhere near as precise as is required in the diverse fields of science and industry.
Nanostructures play a central role, for example, in the manufacture of integrated electronic or photonic circuits, high-performance optics for Earth observation, measurement technology, and sensor technology, as well as in space research. For the planned Einstein Telescope – one of Europe’s most ambitious scientific projects: a planned underground observatory designed to observe the universe not with light, but through gravitational waves – the Fraunhofer IOF has developed highly sensitive sensors. High-precision machines made in Thuringia are used to manufacture nanostructured components for international space missions – and, in the future, photonic quantum chips for future quantum computers, a completely new computer technology that will be able to solve problems that today’s supercomputers would fail to solve even over thousands of years
Target precision a hundred times smaller than an atom
In addition to its ability to scale up to one square meter, the machine’s high precision is its key feature. The experts from Ilmenau aim to create nanostructures that enable precision of up to twenty picometers across the entire one-square-meter surface – one picometer corresponds to one trillionth of a meter, which is about a hundred times smaller than the diameter of an atom. At the same time, in addition to sub-atomic positional resolution, they allow for maximum structuring deviations of less than ten nanometers across the entire 3D volume of the workspace.
The ambitious goal of the team led by Prof. Thomas Kissinger, 3D-NLM project manager at the Institute of Process Measurement and Sensor Technology at TU Ilmenau, Prof. Eberhard Manske, the project’s initiator, and Prof. Thomas Fröhlich: A machine unique in the world that enables the production of high-performance optical, three-dimensional components on a very large scale and with the highest precision: “With this, we in Ilmenau are pushing the limits of what is technically feasible – and perhaps even going a little beyond them.”
Kick-off DFG-Project 3D-NLM-Maschine
06.05.2026, 13:00
„Quantum Photonics“ Messe
Gothaer Str. 34 | 99094 Erfurt
Contact
Prof. Thomas Kissinger
Head of Nanofabrication and Nanomeasurement Technology
+49 3677 69-2823
thomas.kissinger@tu-ilmenau.de
