DISH 3D Printing: Millimeter Objects in 0.6 Seconds — Speed Meets Precision

The Speed-Precision Trade-Off Is Dead

For years, 3D printing has been trapped in a frustrating tug-of-war: if you wanted precision, you waited hours; if you wanted speed, you sacrificed detail. A research team from China's Tsinghua University has shattered this limitation with a new process called DISH (Digital Incoherent Synthesis of Holographic light fields) that prints complex millimeter-scale objects in just 0.6 seconds while maintaining feature sizes as small as 12 micrometers.

How DISH Works

Traditional volumetric additive manufacturing—like computed axial lithography—requires the physical sample to rotate 360°. This introduces mechanical instability and forces the use of high-viscosity resins to prevent the object from sinking during prolonged print times.

DISH eliminates this by using a high-speed rotating periscope that revolves up to 10 times per second around a stationary container. Instead of spinning the sample, the optical system projects the entire three-dimensional light intensity distribution at once through a single optical flat surface.

The result: a staggering printing rate of 333 cubic millimeters per second with a minimum printable feature size of 12 micrometers—published in the journal Nature.

What Can You Print?

The technology has demonstrated the ability to print complex 3D structures using acrylate materials across a range of viscosities. When integrated with a fluid channel system, the team achieved mass production of diverse 3D structures within low-viscosity materials.

The implications are significant for:

• Biomedicine: Rapid production of detailed tissue models and microfluidic devices
• Microtechnology: Complex micro-robotic components
• Flexible electronics: Miniaturized electronic structures
• Photonics: Optical components with precise geometries

Why This Matters

The breakthrough eliminates what the researchers call the resolution-volumetric build rate trade-off. Previous volumetric methods required compromises—faster prints meant lower resolution, while higher resolution meant slower builds. DISH achieves both simultaneously.

Associate professor Wu Jiamin, a member of the research team at Tsinghua University's Imaging and Intelligent Technology Laboratory, stated this represents the fastest 3D printing speed ever recorded.

The Road Ahead

While still in early stages, DISH points toward a future where mass production of precision microscale parts becomes practical. The ability to print in low-viscosity materials opens possibilities for biological applications that high-viscosity resins cannot support.

The research team's next steps include expanding material compatibility and scaling the technology for industrial applications. If DISH can move from laboratory demonstration to production-ready systems, it could fundamentally reshape manufacturing workflows for microscale components.

Source: Nature, Tsinghua University