Micro/Nano Manufacturing

Microand nano-scale manufacturing has been the subject of an increasing amount of interest and research effort worldwide in both academia and industry over the past 10 years. Traditional lithography-based technology forms the basis of silicon-based micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) manufacturing, but also precision manufacturing technologies have been developed to cover micro-scale dimensions and accuracies. Furthermore, these fundamentally different technology ecosystems are currently combined in order to exploit strengths of both platforms. One example is the use of lithography-based technologies to establish nanostructures that are subsequently transferred to 3D geometries via injection molding. Manufacturing processes at the micro-scale are the key-enabling technologies to bridge the gap between the nanoand the macro-worlds, to increase the accuracy of micro/nano-precision production technologies, and to integrate different dimensional scales in mass-manufacturing processes. Accordingly, the present Special Issue aims to provide the recent developments in the field of Micro/Nano Manufacturing in terms of production techniques and key enabling technologies that push the boundaries of the state of the art in mass-manufacturing of micro-scale and micro/nano structured components. The Special Issue consists of 13 original research papers, which cover both fundamental process technologies developments as well as application of those technologies for the fabrication of micro/nano devices. The papers included in the Special Issue addresses research in four main domains of micro/nano manufacturing: