June 16, 2005 -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c19203) has announced the addition of Processing Service Suppliers for MST/MEMS - worldwide to their offering

Time to market and achieving the right levels of quality and price are the most challenging aspects of MST/MEMS industrialization. Subcontractors are key, and often underestimated, elements in the commercialization process. Specialized suppliers, delivering optimized processing services are the subject of this report.

The enablingMNT Industry Review on Processing Service Suppliers for MST/MEMS provides an overview of technologies, company information and general trends and background. This study has confirmed that there is a healthy supply of replication services as well as services offering glass processing as a prime capability for optical or fluidic products. These services seem to be more prevalent in Europe as the USA appears to be concentrating more on the conventional thin film technologies.

Most of the service suppliers offer a range of more or less similar technologies, although the traditional separation between front and back end processing remains well defined. The geographically-based preferences between the USA and Europe stems from the source of the developments, where in the USA developments were spurred by the semiconductor industry which started activities to support this industry by supplying technology services. In Europe, on the other hand, companies were started by university based researchers and their evolving aims to commercialise the technologies from within those establishments.

In addition to the traditional MEMS technologies, enablingMNT has studied services in the following areas and included in the report:
- LIGA and alternatives like SU-8 and HARMST
- Optical/MOEMS production
- Laser and mechanical precision machining and engineering
- Micro sandblasting
- Powder-blasting

Topics covered include:
- Micro Nano Technologies (MNT)
- MNT Product Development
- Markets for MNT   
- Business Models and Strategies for Suppliers of MST/MEMS Technical Services
- Technologies available for MNT Users
- Introduction
- Replication Technologies
- Services Covering the Optical Component Manufacturing Sector
- Thin Film Technology
- Laser and Mechanical Micromachining Technologies
- Glass Processing   
- Summary of Trends / Conclusion
- Company Information
- Cross Reference Tables
- Profiles of MNT Service Suppliers – Worldwide

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c19203

Laura Wood
Senior Manager
Research and Markets
e-mail protected from spam bots
Fax: +353 1 4100 980