Micro and Nanotechology
The recognition that the development of products at the interface between the chemicals and electronics sectors is both highly multidisciplinary and highly complex (spanning the scale range from molecular to nano to micro to macro); together with an appreciation that in the life science industries it is at the nanoscale where our understanding is least mature, has resulted in a massive global initiative branded ”nanotechnology”.
Emerging markets such as in biomedical and healthcare, environmental monitoring (security and pollution) and communications (RF and optical) requires increasingly complex levels of integration of functions (fluidic, optical, mechanical, electrical, bio, etc). No single material technology (silicon, polymer, glass, etc) can provide all these in a cost-effective way. For example, silicon is very attractive for its ability to provide very high liquid dispensing accuracy in microfluidics and is also the material of choice for integration with electronics drive and signal processing circuitry for intelligent sensors.
However, other functions such as fluidic handling/interfacing and environmental packaging require hybridisation with other materials such as polymers. Click here for more information about micro and nanotechnology and an overview of fabrication, materials selection and function integration and visit the case histories sections for application examples.