Author: Luiz Otavio Saraiva Ferreira
Short Biographical Data: Bachelor degree in Electronic Engineering by the University of Brasília in 1978, Master of Sciences in Electrical Engineering by UNICAMP in 1982, and Doctorate in Electrical Engineering by UNICAMP in 1993. Micromachining group leader between 1996 and 2002 of the National Sincroton Light Laboratory and one of Brazil’s pioneers in Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. At the present time he is dedicated to the research orientation on chemical micro laboratories and laser scanning system teaching in the Department of Computing Mechanics of UNICAMPS's College of Mechanical Engineering.

Abstract

Pursuing the microelectronics trail, a new revolution based upon miniaturization is under way – this turn towards non electronic parts of equipment – with impacts just being noticed on analytical instruments for physicians and hospitals as the equipment for remote laboratory tests (RLT’s) arrives to the market. This paper presents a historical retrospective, the main technologies and their applications, their impacts on the utilization areas, maintenance and equipment specification, and changes in the management of systems and health care plans attributable to this silent and inevitable revolution.

Keywords: Lab-On-a-Chip, LOC, MEMS, Microsystems, RLT, analytical instruments.

mciencia@unicamp.br