Soft lithography and microfabrication

Miniaturization is a central theme in technology. As the computer industry knows, smaller microelectronic devices have made computers faster, cheaper and more portable. These advances in microelectronics have also spawned a huge variety of other tiny devices. For example, micro-electro-mechanical systems are now being used in medicine as disposable blood-pressure sensors, and in the automotive industry as tiny accelerometers in airbags that protect drivers in crashes.