4. Conclusions

The diversity of micromachining techniques currently available, and set to increase in the future, shows that these tools are powerful means of producing very small objects with great precision. However, given the effort required to develop such technologies, and the know-how already acquired in silicon, it is likely that most objects designed in the future will be in silicon.

Silicon is all the more interesting for the fact that a mechanical device and electronic processing can be carried out on the same substrate: it's the marriage of mechanics and electronics.

However, there will always be a place for other materials, depending on the objectives of specific applications. These include piezoelectrics (especially quartz), magnetic materials and materials for optical applications. The electronic function can also be added by hybridizing...