Universities

In the spring of 2016 Prof. Marc Tornow joined Fraunhofer EMFT to head up the Silicon Technologies and Devices department together with Prof. Ignaz Eisele. Marc Tornow holds the Professorship in Molecular Electronics at Technical University of Munich and is involved in research into nanoscale components in molecular electronics and biosensorics.

There is also close collaboration with the faculty of Technical Electrophysics. Research there focuses on physically based modeling, numerical simulation and the characterization and diagnosis of production processes and the operating response of microstructured components. Collaborative research aims to further strengthen Fraunhofer EMFT expertise in this area. There are plans for joint doctoral dissertations on various preliminary research topics. 

Fraunhofer EMFT has a longstanding collaboration with the Institute for Analytical Chemistry, Chemo- and Biosensors at the University of Regensburg. Since January 1, 2017, Prof. Joachim Wegener has been in charge of the Fraunhofer EMFT group Cell-Based Sensors (ZBS) in Regensburg. Joachim Wegener is Professor of Bioanalytics and Biosensors, and the work he does with his group mainly focuses on developing physical sensors that allow living cells to be examined on a non-invasive, label-free basis. The aim of this new initiative is to harness Fraunhofer EMFT expertise in the areas of microelectronics and polymer electronics for cell-based sensors, thereby penetrating new areas of application in bioanalytics and biotechnology.

Technical University of Dresden has been one of Germany's eleven Universities of Excellence since 2013. The honorary professorship of Prof. Peter Kücher at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering forms the basis for cooperation with Fraunhofer EMFT.

In his courses at the Institute for Semiconductors and Microsystems Technologies (IHM), Prof. Peter Kücher focuses mainly on the connection between technological and economic challenges, since globalized competition leads to changes such as specialization and resegmentation of the supply chain. This requires manufacturers of materials, production facilities and chips to adopt new strategic approaches. For this reason, current trends in microelectronics/nanoelectronics – from »More Moore« to »More than Moore« – need to be viewed within the overall economic context. Fraunhofer EMFT also cooperates closely with the Electronics Packaging Laboratory (IAVT) on scientific topics.

There is a close link between the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at Bundeswehr University Munich and Fraunhofer EMFT, not least as a result of staffing connections: Prof. Linus Maurer (Professorship for Integrated Circuits and Electronic Components) has taught at the university since 2012, along with Prof. Christoph Kutter (Professorship for Polytronics). The cooperation originated under Prof. Ignaz Eisele, who was appointed the university's first Emeritus of Excellence and today heads up the business area Silicon Technologies and Devices at Fraunhofer EMFT. Dr. Sabine Trupp, Head of the Sensor Materials group at Fraunhofer EMFT, was accepted as a habilitation candidate in the area of gas sensorics at Bundeswehr University in 2015. Dr. Ronnie Bose, Head of the Polytronic Technologies group at Fraunhofer EMFT, has been doing his habilitation at the Institute of Physics, Bundeswehr University Munich, since 2016. His area of research is flexible hybrid integration and microsystem technologies.

Fraunhofer EMFT and Bundeswehr University Munich complement each other ideally due to the nature of their respective cleanroom facilities. The close connection between the university and Fraunhofer EMFT is also reflected in their collaboration on the integration of new, innovative functionalities and components in existing silicon standard technologies. Here, Fraunhofer EMFT contributes its expertise in the area of add-on technologies and their combination with standard technologies. The goal of the project is to collaborate with industry partners so as to advance new developments – from high-risk research through to product maturity and implementation. The two institutions aim to intensify their collaboration in the future.