Microfabrication for Industrial Applications focuses on the industrial perspective for micro- and nanofabrication methods including large-scale manufacturing, transfer of concepts from lab to factory, process tolerance, yield, robustness, and cost. It gives a history of miniaturization, micro- and nanofabrication, and surveys industrial fields of application, illustrating fabrication processes of relevant micro and nano devices. Concerning sub-micron feature manufacture, the book explains: the philosophy of micro/ nanofabrication for integrated circuit industry; thin film deposition; (waveguide, plastic, semiconductor) material processing; packaging; interconnects; stress (e.g., thin film residual); economic; and environmental aspects. Micro/nanomechanical sensors and actuators are explained in depth with information on applications, materials (incl. functional polymers), methods, testing, fabrication, integration, reliability, magnetic microstructures, etc. Shows engineers & students how to evaluate the potential value of current and nearfuture manufacturing processes for miniaturized systems in industrial environments Explains the top-down and bottom up approaches to nanotechnology, nanostructures fabricated with beams, nano imprinting methods, nanoparticle manufacturing (and their health aspects), nanofeature analysis, and connecting nano to micro to macro Discusses issues for practical application cases; possibilities of dimension precision; large volume manufacturing of micro- & nanostructures (machines, materials, costs) Explains applications of Microsystems for information technology, e.g.: data recording (camera, microphone), storage (memories, CDs), communication; computing; and displays (beamers, LCD, TFT) Case studies are given for sensors, resonators, probes, transdermal medical systems, micro- pumps & valves, inkjets, DNA-analysis, lab-on-a-chip, & micro-cooling

This book is dedicated to Prof. Dr. Heinz Gerhäuser on the occasion of his retirement both from the position of Executive Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and from the Endowed Chair of Information Technologies with a Focus on Communication Electronics (LIKE) at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Heinz Gerhäuser's vision and entrepreneurial spirit have made the Fraunhofer IIS one of the most successful and renowned German research institutions. He has been Director of the Fraunhofer IIS since 1993, and under his leadership it has grown to become the largest of Germany's 60 Fraunhofer Institutes, a position it retains to this day, currently employing over 730 staff. Likely his most important scientific as well as application-related contribution was his pivotal role in the development of the mp3 format, which would later become a worldwide success. The contributions to this Festschrift were written by both Fraunhofer IIS staff and external project team members in appreciation of Prof. Dr. Gerhäuser's lifetime academic achievements and his inspiring leadership at the Fraunhofer IIS. The papers reflect the broad spectrum of the institute's research activities and are grouped into sections on circuits, information systems, visual computing, and audio and multimedia. They provide academic and industrial researchers in fields like signal processing, sensor networks, microelectronics, and integrated circuits with an up-to-date overview of research results that have a huge potential for cutting-edge industrial applications.

This book is dedicated to Prof. Dr. Heinz Gerhäuser on the occasion of his retirement both from the position of Executive Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and from the Endowed Chair of Information Technologies with a Focus on Communication Electronics (LIKE) at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Heinz Gerhäuser's vision and entrepreneurial spirit have made the Fraunhofer IIS one of the most successful and renowned German research institutions. He has been Director of the Fraunhofer IIS since 1993, and under his leadership it has grown to become the largest of Germany's 60 Fraunhofer Institutes, a position it retains to this day, currently employing over 730 staff. Likely his most important scientific as well as application-related contribution was his pivotal role in the development of the mp3 format, which would later become a worldwide success. The contributions to this Festschrift were written by both Fraunhofer IIS staff and external project team members in appreciation of Prof. Dr. Gerhäuser's lifetime academic achievements and his inspiring leadership at the Fraunhofer IIS. The papers reflect the broad spectrum of the institute's research activities and are grouped into sections on circuits, information systems, visual computing, and audio and multimedia. They provide academic and industrial researchers in fields like signal processing, sensor networks, microelectronics, and integrated circuits with an up-to-date overview of research results that have a huge potential for cutting-edge industrial applications.