Abstract:

Product engineering in micro and nano technology (MNT) is different from development methods in other areas. MNT products require often specific fabrication processes. Interdependencies between device design on the one hand and manufacturing process development on the other hand make MNT product engineering (PE) a challenging task. Customer involvement is an additional request since product developments are rarely standardized. Therefore customer interaction is required in virtually all stages of PE. In this paper a comprehensive customer-oriented MNT product engineering methodology is in the focus. Both MNT design and fabrication process development are analyzed with regard to procedures and interfaces used in order to develop an appropriate CAD support. The manufacturing process development is part of this holistic approach. An appropriate CAD environment has been developed by the authors and became recently commercially available.