ABSTRACT
Since the middle of the 20th century, general technological progress has been dominated essentially by a unique strategy of success, which constantly aims at comprehensive miniaturization and integration of functional elements in technical systems. The most outstanding development took place in microelectronics, where integrated circuits with hundreds of millions or even billions of transistors have become products of our daily lives. More recently, micromechanical, microoptical, microfluidic, and many other microdevices have become the basis for a multibillion dollar business, the market for microtechnology (1-3). The products of microtechnology have achieved a key position in information, communication, entertainment, automotive, and medical technologies.
