Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany decided to use 3D printing for assisting the scientific community in making an improvement to the atomic force microscopy (AFM) process. While this method has worked very well for over 30 years, the issue of the pointed tips that are used on a micromachined cantilever to explore atomic surfaces has come up as something that could use refining. The KIT researchers discovered a way, through using the two-photon polymerization (TPP) 3D printing process to direct write these tips and customize them in different ways for better effectiveness. Not only were they discovered to be affordable and easily customized, but they also work well and continue to be reliable over time. Read more at 3DPrint.com: https://3dprint.com/145485/two-photo...erization-3dp/