Microfabricated electrochemical systems

The terms microfabrication and micromachining represent a broad set of techniques for systematically creating solid-state structures on the micro-and nanometer scales. Primarily developed by the semiconductor industry as an enabler for cheaper and more complex microelectronics circuitry, the resulting capabilities have since been exploited throughout most other areas of science and technology. In particular, microfabrication, having first become a workhorse of solid-state physics research, has become increasingly common in a variety of wet fields ranging from biophysics and neuroscience to environmental sensing and bioanalytical applications. Lithographic approaches are particularly well matched to the demands of electroanalytical methods due to the latter’s emphasis on solid-state electrodes and electrical signals and a growing interest in micro- and nanoscale systems and processes.