Microsystem technology

Technology for the manufacture of microsystems, mechanical or optical components on a microscopic scale, often combined into units, in particular with microelectronic systems. Examples: microsensors, microheaters. Structures of microsystems technology are often manufactured with the working methods of microelectronics, e.g. installation of heating coils such as conductors or etching of mechanical components with the methods of semiconductor structuring (cf. LIGA). By means of special processes, plasma technology can be used in microsystem technology in many different ways: cleaning of surfaces before coating, sputtering, vapour deposition, bonding, etching of photoresists, metal conductor deep-etching in semiconductors application of protective coats (hydrophobic, anti-oxidative) of finished structures.