The 4th caesarium brought together world known experts reporting the state-of-the-art of Functional Micro-and Nanosystems. Its purpose was to identify and open up new research directions in this rapidly evolving new area and to discuss the potential with respect to applications in automotive, biochemical and information technology. Thin film technologies are an attractive approach to incorporate functional properties into micro- or nano-systems. The continuing development towards smaller structures is driven by the use of higher driving frequencies and thus smaller wavelengths, the growing integration of different functions, the higher degree of parallelism, and size requirements for the detection of bio-molecules. Hence this new technology opens up new possibilities in terms of high frequency wireless data transmission over long distances, sensors showing high spatial and time resolution and new devices to process biological, optical and electrical signals.
