M6 · Micro- Multi-Material Manufacture to Enable Multifunctional Miniaturised Devices

For some decades the world has been able to see the ultimate impact of device miniaturisation which has led to dramatic growth in national and global revenues alongside the huge benefits that have been brought to human activities, in the healthcare/medical, energy, space, transport, communication and defence sectors. Evolving initially from silicon based manufacturing technologies thanks to the huge investment and established infrastructure, current state-of-the-art play in moving further according to the “More than Moore” has substantially extended the global capacity in achieving complex microsystem integration using hybrid processes, multi-materials that are significantly confined in an ever small space or dimensions. The challenges in the endeavour of continuous miniaturisation therefore exist in the fundamental understanding of the phonemes behind all the play,in order to underpin a paradigm of future generation miniaturised device. With significant developments for some decades the various capabilities and expertise bridging the EU and Asia are now available to readily forge a tangible strong consortium targeting such an important field. Given its inter-disciplinary nature, the project will cover a wide breadth of research topics as demanded through collaborations and researchers’ mobility provided by International Research Staff Exchange Scheme as one of the Marie Curie Actions to draw the strength from the representative institutions in Germany, Japan, China and UK. The project will focus on the potential challenges and potential issues encountered in the integration of miniaturised devices in terms of novel materials and processes, characterisation and testing, demonstrating the manufacturability and reliability. Both experimental and computational approaches will be applied to elaborate the fundamental aspects of multi-material behaviour at micro- and nano-scales.