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1. INTRODUCTION
As Dr. Richard Feynman stated in the late 1950s, world’s miniaturization technology has advanced at an astonishing pace. The forerunner of this technology was mostly the electronics industry with its need for manufacturing processes for electronic components, like printed circuit boards and Integrated Circuits (IC). However, currently the market of miniature technologies supports in general, a very fast growing market in a broad field of applications, especially in the medical, biotechnology, telecommunications and energy fields.
This chapter represents a general review of the microtechnologies and many illustrations have been included in order to provide a better understanding. Aspects such as the historical background, terminology, research & development efforts in various countries, market expectations & future trends, technology classification and application and future trends will be analysed.
