Ultraprecise method of aligning 3D semiconductor chips invented

Could this also be used for manufacturing lots of other microscopic things? layer by layer?

"Instead, their method finds errors up to 0.017 nm along side-to-side measures (x and y axes) and 0.134 nm when assessing the distance between the two chips (z-axis)."

Could you make some very very sensitive and tiny seismic sensors with this?

edit: " Arbabi also points out that this method can be used to make displacement sensors that can be used for measuring displacements and other quantities. "Many physical quantities that you want to detect can be translated to displacements, and the only thing you need is a simple laser and a camera," he says.

For instance, "if you want a pressure sensor, you could measure the movement of a membrane." Anything that involves movement—vibration, heat, acceleration—can in theory be tracked by this method.

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You also need to take into account your manufacturing precision you can achieve with fabricating the lenses, how accurately you can position the lenses relative to the work piece etc. From my cursory reading of the paper it assumes perfect lenses and positioning, and only simulates the alignment procedure. Still, a worthy paper, but as others have mentioned, not much different than the methods used for optics alignment.

The last bit about using this same technique for sensors is pretty cool. Ultra-sensitive microphones or touch sensors would be pretty awesome.

This is not novel in general - the same technique has been used in lens alignment for decades.

Maybe I'm missing something here, doesn't this simply move the precision problem to a different part of manufacturing? Previously you had to be precise with aligning the chips, now you have to be precise with how you put those alignment marks on the chips you want to align. Am I missing something here? Or is it considerably easier to put the marks on the chips with sufficient precision?

Isn't this very similar to the way optical position encoders work?

Nothing is invented, only discovered.