Hey guys,
Can a 3D printer reach a level of precision enough high to be employed in the production of chips?
You are talking about microchips, as in silicone wafers etc.?
In principle, sure why not. In reality today, no, not as far as I know.
We have been tossing around the idea of printing multilayer circuit boards, best of luck in your not so micro chips =)
Although there is technically equipment able to 3D print sub-micron features, like the Nanoscribe, these are still too big to reach the features of nowadays microchips, which are down to a few tens of nanometer and below. In manufacturing it wouldn’t make sense because the throughput would be extremely low and expensive. In prototyping and MEMS it can be useful still, but then the big problem is the one that is often found in additive manufacturing: can I print useful materials with the properties I need? In electronics in general, the answer is mostly no. I don’t see microchips prototyping happening anytime soon or at all… If on the other hand you meant potato chips, I think technology is ready and I put myself forward for beta tester! 
Hi Ken, if you mean the actual compoents, not there yet. However pcb’s with the interconnections and possibly rudimentary resistors/capacitors/inductors (utilising the characteristics of filaments) could be easily down. I think the hurdle at the minute is the software for printers.
Potato extruders are the next big thing.
IBM and I’m sure others are pouring money into this research: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc\_id=1322091
You have two major problems doing this today as a home user. The resolution of the best 3D printers is orders of magnitude larger than the spacing and size of modern chip level components. Your printed integrated circuit would be large and that would mean that the material performance would suffer due to increased electron distance travel. Electron mobility would be an issue. You would basically print very slow switching circuits.
Secondly you would struggle to find printable semiconductor material today. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen at some time in the future. In the future, all things are possible with high levels of drive and money 
You just need IBM level budgets!
There is mask-less tool like **CHARPAN Nanopatterning Tool (**http://www.ims.co.at/) that permit to create submicrometer structure, but this is only one aspect to consider when you would like to create a silicon chip.
One chip require different material with different electronic properties; perhaps we need a 4D printer in order to make a chip with electrical properties.
RCole
9
All you need is a paste extruder and then use a recipe like this: Homemade Pringles. Maybe one of the clay extruders would work for this. Chips in any shape you want.
