4M 2008, the fourth annual conference of the 4M Network of Excellence (www.4m-net.org), will be held on 9th - 11th of September 2008 at Cardiff, UK. There will be 73 accepted papers including 4 keynote contributors involving more than 200 authors from 16 countries and 46 organisations.

This resulting volume details the state-of-the-art regarding numerous aspects of advanced micro technologies with respect to a wide range of materials, and the development of new production platforms for micro systems-based products.

The contributions from leading authors from universities, independant research and corporate organizations provide an invaluable overview of this rapidly moving subject and an insight into key research and development areas. This comprehensive collection of indexed and peer-reviewed articles is also contained on a CD with search functionality.

Keynote speakers on
Utilising Electrochemical Deposition for Micro Manufacturing (Dr. Peter Torben Tang, IPU Manufacturing, Denmark);
Microfabrication using a Single Mode Yb Fibre Laser (Dr. Bill O'Neill, University of Cambridge, UK);
Traceable measurement of areal surface texture (Dr. Richard Leach, NPL, UK);
Biphasic Reactions in Microreactors (Professor Thomas Wirth, Cardiff University, UK);
Engineered Self-assembly from Nano to Milli Scales (Professor Karl Boehringer, University of Washington, USA);
Microfluidic Chips for Biochemical and Cell Analysis (Professor Micheal Vellekoop, Vienna University of Technology, Austria)
and sections on

•Materials: characterisation and processing
•Process modelling and simulation
•Process characterisation including process chains
•Metrology: inspection and characterisation methods
•Components: fabrication and assembly technologies
•Systems: novel product and system designs

This volume will be of interest to all engineers and scientists, whether in academia or industry, working in the field of nanotechnology and micro manufacture.