Additive manufacturing techniques (AMTs) directly benefit from their fast and flexible way of realizing a small or medium number of parts in a cost-effective way. By using automated manufacturing processes, 3-D parts with a high degree of geometrical complexity can directly be built from the user-defined CAD data. The complete part is assembled in a layer-based production fashion from the bottom of the structure to its top. The rapidly expanding market of micro system technologies is constantly raising also the requirements for fast and flexible production of functional micro parts. Stereolithography and laser sintering offer a huge potential for further miniaturization by systematically adapting the right parameters and tailoring the materials. From micro components to functional micro systems with detail features on the micron level, optimized AMTs enable fabrication on either a polymer or metal basis.