7. Conclusion

The sensor industry is undergoing rapid change. This shift towards collective manufacturing techniques based on silicon integrated circuit technology is leading to low-cost products incorporating information pre-processing. However, there are still several limiting factors:

• difficult access for SMEs to development and manufacturing resources involving fairly high levels of investment;

• a constantly evolving market that is often reluctant to assume the risks associated with innovative technologies ;

• a shortage of designers with a good command of both the technology and the physical chemistry of the phenomena used by sensors;

• the enormous disproportion between the number of experimental projects and those reaching the industrial stage (probably...