Principles of development and design of microsystems.

The state of the art in microsystem design and fabrication is reviewed. The focus is on silicon micromachining, which uses the equipment and processes of IC-technology to produce highly miniaturized, three-dimensional structures, sensors and actuators for various biomedical applications. The micro components can be integrated into surgical instruments, catheters and implants. Thus new functions and a higher level of intelligence are created. Portable microsystems are being developed for chemical analysis and biomedical monitoring. The cultivation and investigation of live cells on chip substrates offers encouraging perspectives for the future.