Henry Baltes

Biography

Microfabrication processes for chemical and biochemical sensors hold the potential to produce one or thousands of devices of micrometer and millimeter dimensions. This ability to fabricate many of these devices in parallel leads to tremendous cost savings and enables the production of array structures or large device series with minute fabrication tolerances. The paper "Microfabrication Techniques for Chemical/Biosensors" published in the June 2003 issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE by Henry Baltes, Oliver Brand, Christoph Hagleitner and Andreas Hierlemann will be a valued reference to those involved in microfabrication for the foreseeable future. Originally asked to describe how microfabrication technology applies to chemical microsensors, the authors exceeded all expectations by crafting a powerful review that describes, compares and contrasts the principal approaches to microsensor technology, identifies them with their appropriate microfabrication technologies, and provides wide-ranging examples of each from numerous research groups.The paper provides a sound outline of fundamental chemical sensor principles,a definitive review of the advantages and disadvantages of fabricating devices via IC fabrication technology, a description of various microfabrication process flows, and a look at monolithic, integrated chemical and biological microsensor systems.

Dr. Baltes is an expert on silicon-based microsystems and is professor of physical electronics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, (ETH), in Zurich, Switzerland, and acting chairman of the new ETH Center of Biosystems Science and Engineering in Basel. A Fellow of the IEEE and member of the editorial board of the Proceedings of the IEEE, he is co-editor of two series of textbooks, "Advanced Micro and Nanosystems" and "Microtechnology and MEMS." A member of the Swiss Academy of Science, his honors include the Koerber European Science Award, the Wilhelm Exner Medal of the Austrian Trade Association and the Swiss Technology Award. He is the former program director of the Swiss National Priority Programfor power electronics, systems and information technology,was a co-founder and director of LSI Logic Corporation of Canada, and a co-founder of Sensirion in Zurich.