Printing of micro- and nanometer-scaled quartz glass structures from pure silicon dioxide opens up many new applications in optics, photonics, and semiconductor technologies. So far, processes have been based on conventional sintering. Temperatures required for sintering silicon dioxide nanoparticles are above 1,100°C, which is much too hot for direct deposition onto semiconducting chips. A team headed by Dr. Jens Bauer from KIT’s Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) has now developed a new process to produce transparent quartz glass with a high resolution and excellent mechanical properties at far lower temperatures.