Human beings have witnessed unprecedented developments since the 1760s using precision tools and manufacturing methods that have led to ever-increasing precision, from millimeter to micrometer, to single nanometer, and to atomic levels. The modes of manufacturing have also advanced from craft-based manufacturing in the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages to precisioncontrollable manufacturing using automatic machinery. In the past 30 years, since the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope, humans have become capable of manipulating single atoms, laying the groundwork for the coming era of atomic and close-to-atomic scale manufacturing (ACSM). Close-to-atomic scale manufacturing includes all necessary steps to convert raw materials, components, or parts into products designed to meet the user’s specifications. The processes involved in ACSM are not only atomically precise but also remove, add, or transform work material at the atomic and close-to-atomic scales. This review discusses the history of the development of ACSM and the current state-of-the-art processes to achieve atomically precise and/or atomic-scale manufacturing. Existing and future applications of ACSM in quantum computing, molecular circuitry, and the life and material sciences are also described. To further develop ACSM, it is critical to understand the underlying mechanisms of atomic-scale and atomically precise manufacturing; develop functional devices, materials, and processes for ACSM; and promote high throughput manufacturing.

This article summarizes work at the Laser Thermal Laboratory and discusses related studies on the laser synthesis and functionalization of semiconductor nanostructures and two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor materials. Research has been carried out on the laser-induced crystallization of thin films and nanostructures. The in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) monitoring of the crystallization of amorphous precursors in nanodomains is discussed herein. The directed assembly of silicon nanoparticles and the modulation of their optical properties by phase switching is presented. The vapor–liquid–solid mechanism has been adopted as a bottom-up approach in the synthesis of semiconducting nanowires (NWs). In contrast to furnace heating methods, laser irradiation offers high spatial selectivity and precise control of the heating mechanism in the time domain. These attributes enabled the investigation of NW nucleation and the early stage of nanostructure growth. Site- and shape-selective, on-demand direct integration of oriented NWs was accomplished. Growth of discrete silicon NWs with nanoscale location selectivity by employing near-field laser illumination is also reported herein. Tuning the properties of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) by modulating the free carrier type, density, and composition can offer an exciting new pathway to various practical nanoscale electronics. In situ Raman probing of laser-induced processing of TMDC flakes was conducted in a TEM instrument.

The extremely high peak intensity associated with ultrashort pulse width of femtosecond (fs) lasers enabled inducing nonlinear multiphoton absorption in materials that are transparent to the laser wavelength. More importantly, focusing the fs laser beam inside the transparent materials confined the nonlinear interaction to within the focal volume only, realizing three-dimensional (3D) micro/nanofabrication. This 3D capability offers three different processing schemes for use in fabrication: undeformative, subtractive, and additive. Furthermore, a hybrid approach of different schemes can create much more complex 3D structures and thereby promises to enhance the functionality of the structures created. Thus, hybrid fs laser 3D microprocessing opens a new door for material processing. This paper comprehensively reviews different types of hybrid fs laser 3D micro/nanoprocessing for diverse applications including fabrication of functional micro/nanodevices.

Composite materials exhibit advantages from the combination of multiple properties, which cannot be achieved by a monolithic material. At present, the use of composite materials in miniaturized scale is receiving much attention in the fields of medicine, electronics, aerospace, and microtooling. A common method for producing miniaturized composite parts is micromanufacturing. There has been, however, no comprehensive literature published that reviews, compares, and discusses the ongoing micromanufacturing methods for producing miniaturized composite components. This study identifies the major micromanufacturing methods used with composite materials, categorizes their subclasses, and highlights the latest developments, new trends, and effects of key factors on the productivity, quality, and cost of manufacturing composite materials. A comparative study is presented that shows the potential and versatility associated with producing composite materials along with possible future applications. This review will be helpful in promoting micromanufacturing technology for fabricating miniaturized products made of composite materials to meet the growing industrial demand.

This review focuses on recent developments in additive manufacturing (AM) of precision optical devices, particularly devices consisting of components with critical features at the micro- and nanoscale. These include, but are not limited to, microlenses, diffractive optical elements, and photonic devices. However, optical devices with large-size lenses and mirrors are not specifically included as this technology has not demonstrated feasibilities in that category. The review is roughly divided into two slightly separated topics, the first on meso- and microoptics and the second on optics with nanoscale features. Although AM of precision optics is still in its infancy with many unanswered questions, the references cited on this exciting topic demonstrate an enabling technology with almost unlimited possibilities. There are many high quality reviews of AM processes of non-optical components, hence they are not the focus of this review. The main purpose of this review is to start a conversion on optical fabrication based on information about 3D AM methods that has been made available to date, with an ultimate long-term goal of establishing new optical manufacturing methods that are low cost and highly precise with extreme flexibility.

The fabrication of miniature structures on components with high-integrity surface quality represents one of the cutting edge technologies in the 21st century. The materials used to construct such small structures are often difficult-to-machine. Many other readily available technologies either cannot realise necessary precision or are costly. Abrasive waterjet (AWJ) is a favourable technology for the machining of difficult-to-machine materials. However, this technology is generally aimed at large stock removal. A reduction in the scale of this technology is an attractive avenue for meeting the pressing need of industry in the production of damage-free micro features. This paper reviews some of the work that has been undertaken at UNSW Sydney about the development of such an AWJ technology, focusing on the system design currently employed to generate a micro abrasive jet, the erosion mechanisms associated with processing some typical brittle materials of both single- and two-phased. Processing models based on the findings are also presented. The review concludes on the viability of the technology and the prevailing trend in its development.

This paper proposes the ‘skin effect’ of the machining-induced damage at high strain rates. The paper first reviews the published research work on machining-induced damage and then identifies the governing factors that dominate damage formation mechanisms. Among many influential factors, such as stress–strain field, temperature field, material responses to loading and loading rate, and crack initiation and propagation, strain rate is recognized as a dominant factor that can directly lead to the ‘skin effect’ of material damage in a loading process. The paper elucidates that material deformation at high strain rates (>10³ s^-1) leads to the embrittlement, which in turn contributes to the ‘skin effect’ of subsurface damage. The paper discusses the ‘skin effect’ based on the principles of dislocation kinetics and crack initiation and propagation. It provides guidance to predicting the material deformation and damage at a high strain-rate for applications ranging from the armor protection, quarrying, petroleum drilling, and high-speed machining of engineering materials (e.g. ceramics and SiC reinforced aluminum alloys).

Direct growth and patterning of atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials on various substrates are essential steps towards enabling their potential for use in the next generation of electronic and optoelectronic devices. The conventional gas-phase growth techniques, however, are not compatible with direct patterning processes. Similarly, the condensed-phase methods, based on metal oxide deposition and chalcogenization processes, require lengthy processing times and high temperatures. Here, a novel self-limiting laser crystallization process for direct crystallization and patterning of 2D materials is demonstrated. It takes advantage of significant differences between the optical properties of the amorphous and crystalline phases. Pulsed laser deposition is used to deposit a thin layer of stoichiometric amorphous molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) film (～3 nm) onto the fused silica substrates. A tunable nanosecond infrared (IR) laser (1064 nm) is then employed to couple a precise amount of power and number of pulses into the amorphous materials for controlled crystallization and direct writing processes. The IR laser interaction with the amorphous layer results in fast heating, crystallization, and/or evaporation of the materials within a narrow processing window. However, reduction of the midgap and defect states in the as crystallized layers decreases the laser coupling efficiency leading to higher tolerance to process parameters. The deliberate design of such laser 2D material interactions allows the selflimiting crystallization phenomena to occur with increased quality and a much broader processing window. This unique laser processing approach allows high-quality crystallization, direct writing, patterning, and the integration of various 2D materials into future functional devices.