AAWSAP DIRD, Biosensors and BioMEMS: A Survey of the Present Field, March 2010

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Conclusion
MEMs are characterized by small dimensions, enabling new applications of physical
principles to make sensors and actuators of superior characteristics.
Physical properties like surface tension and electrostatic charge dominate the operation
of the devices, and new fabrication approaches are required to make them. The
economic driving forces for this miniaturization are strong for health care and biology.
Advanced fabrication processes are still being discovered to further miniaturize
electromechanical systems and to bring us into the realm of nanomechanical systems
(NEMS). The new class of NEMS devices are expected to provide a higher performance
in applications such as sensors, medical diagnostics and in the electronics industry.
Some devices will enable experiments on the structure and function of individual
biomolecules.
This field is expanding rapidly. Searches of the scientific literature show new ideas
being developed in a number of laboratories throughout the world.
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