Microtechnology

Microtechnology is technology with features near one micrometre (one millionth of a metre, or 10−6 metre, or 1μm).The term MEMS, for Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, was coined in the 1980s to describe new, sophisticated mechanical systems on a chip, such as micro electric motors, resonators, gears, and so on. Today, the term MEMS in practice is used to refer to any microscopic device with a mechanical function, which can be fabricated in a batch process (for example, an array of microscopic gears fabricated on a microchip would be considered a MEMS device but a tiny laser-machined stent or watch component would not). In Europe, the term MST for Micro System Technology is preferred, and in Japan MEMS are simply referred to as 'micromachines'. The distinctions in these terms are relatively minor and are often used interchangeably. The following items have been constructed on a scale of 1 micrometre using photolithography: