More than Moore: micro-machined products enable new applications and open new markets

Moore´s law and its mapping into International Technology Roadmap of Semiconductors have been the most powerful drivers for the development of the microelectronic industry. In the same silicon manufacturing facilities, micro-electro-mechanical systems have made their appearance, but, unlike CMOS, MEMS´ development doesn´t need to follow the lithography scaling law for technical and economical reasons. Micro-machined products are penetrating automotive, industrial, medical, and lately, consumer applications. But this is only the beginning. Future wireless sensor networks, domestic robots, smart pills and labs-on-chips have benefit tremendously from next generation, tiny, inexpensive, and low power-consumption MEMS devices