Smart devices: Micro- and nanosensors

Abstract

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Micro- and nano are no longer strange words in today's technology. Health care was one of the fields most evolved with the miniaturization of devices and components. In such a complex biological system as the human body, the ability to downscale devices has allowed closer links to the biological field. This chapter presents an overview of this domain, starting with the sensor concept, the devices' architectures and the challenges of downscaling components to micro- and nano size. Sensing principles are also introduced, and a few examples of devices based on micro- and nanosensors are presented to demonstrate the impact of micro- and nano size devices. Although it might seem that micro- and nano are already mastered, one quickly realizes that many of these devices are still under research and the transition to market is yet to be achieved.