September 17, 2019
Shaping our own future and developing the microelectronics of the future in Germany and Europe - with this goal in mind, technology experts, users and researchers from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and Leibniz Association met at the 2nd “Forschungsfabrik Mikroelektronik Deutschland” (FMD) Innovation Days. From September 12 to 13, FMD and its guests from industry, science and business met at IHP in Frankfurt (Oder) to discuss the latest developments in 5G, sensor technology for autonomous driving and wireless and radar-based solutions for industry 4.0.
Last year, the first FMD integration line opened in Berlin with great success and symbolic ceremony. There, Forschungsfabrik Mikroelektronik Deutschland initiated the second edition of its FMD Innovation Days. With the slogan "From IDays to IDeas" the participants had the opportunity to exchange ideas for two days at one of the 13 FMD locations - the IHP “Leibniz-Institut für innovative Mikroelektronik”. This year's program on the focus topic Microwave and Terahertz offered once again exciting impulse lectures from science and industry. Moreover, it was accompanied an exhibition of the latest technological contributions from the FMD member institutes.
The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute also participated in this year's lectures: Björn Globisch, head of the Terahertz Sensor Systems group at Fraunhofer HHI, gave a lecture on "Terahertz-Sensoren und -Systeme für die zerstörungsfreie Prüfung"(Terahertz sensors and systems for non-destructive testing). Closing round-table discussions in small groups allowed participants to delve deeper into the subject and discuss future topics.
Internationally competitive, decentralized research portfolio
As the largest cross-location FuE consortium for microelectronics, the FME combines the expertise of the eleven institutes of the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics* and the two institutes within the Leibniz Association - FBH and IHP. For the first time, FuE services, application solutions and new technologies will be offered at a high level of technical maturity to a broad circle of industrial customers along the entire microelectronic innovation chain from a single source. The FMD was founded two and a half years ago with the aim of promoting the development, but above all also the manufacture and marketing of microelectronic products in Germany in order to prevent the migration of competencies to other regions. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is supporting the idea of successfully conducting research and development across several locations with around 350 million euros until the end of 2020. This involves primarily the modernization of the research equipment of the 13 participating institutes. With this funding, the Ministry aims to strengthen the innovative capacity of the semiconductor and electronics industry in Germany and Europe in global competition and supports the project with the largest investment in research equipment since the reunification of Germany.
* Fraunhofer Research Institution for Microsystems and Solid State Technologies EMFT, Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems ENAS, Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR, Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute, HHI, Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB, Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS, Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS, Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT, Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM
