Introduction to miniaturisation

Miniaturisation of systems and devices is a trend that started a few decades ago, and which is becoming more and more relevant to our everyday lives. The concept of micro-manufacturing evolved as a direct result of manufacturing technologies used for integrated circuit fabrication. These allowed batch processing, but limited the range of materials and geometries. A range of micro-manufacturing technologies has been developed to overcome these limitations. The aim of this chapter is to review the main physical phenomena related to miniaturisation, in terms of scaling laws, forces, materials, processes and production systems. Indeed, when approaching the micro-scale, some physical phenomena considered negligible at the macro-scale, become significant and have to be taken into account in the design, manufacturing, and assembly of micro-devices