Fortunately, there is a better way to make 3-D structures. The key is to use laser light, and some tricks developed over the last few years. to white in three-dimensional space. You could consider this type of optical lithography-direct laser writing-as a microscopic version of 3D printing. Just as with rapid prototyping, or stereolithography, which was patented by Charles V. Hull in 1986, light is used to sketch out a shape. In this case, however, shapes are not made layer by layer. Instead they're all made in one go, out or a single volume of material. Solvent washes away what isn't exposed to light, much as Michelangelo might say an artist creates a sculpture: by chipping away excess stone.