Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology
| Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT |
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|---|---|
 Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology |
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| Category: | research Institute |
| Carrier: | Fraunhofer Society |
| Legal form of the carrier: | Registered association |
| Seat of the wearer: | Munich |
| Facility location: | Itzehoe |
| Type of research: | Applied research |
| Subjects: | Engineering |
| Areas of expertise: | Microsystem technology , power electronics , battery systems |
| Basic funding: | Federal government (90%), states (10%) |
| Management: | Axel Müller-Groeling |
| Employee: | about 160 |
| Homepage: | www.isit.fraunhofer.de |
The Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT (Fraunhofer ISIT) is an institution of the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research e. V. (FhG) and has its seat in Itzehoe . Its activities can be assigned to applied research and development in engineering in the field of microsystem technology , microelectronics and micromechanics .
Research and Development
Fraunhofer ISIT develops and manufactures components and systems for microsystem technology and power electronics, starting with the design including system simulation, through prototyping and sampling to series production. The miniaturized components are often only fractions of a millimeter in size. Important areas of application are energy technology, automotive and traffic technology, the consumer goods industry, medical technology, communication and automation technology. The business areas of the institute reflect the main scientific work areas described here:
MEMS applications business area
The central topic of the MEMS applications business area is microsystem technology. (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems; MEMS) Fraunhofer ISIT is the pioneer in this field, at least in Germany. For more than 30 years, ISIT scientists have been designing, developing and manufacturing microelectromechanical components. The work includes the integration with microelectronics to create novel systems. The focus at Fraunhofer ISIT is primarily on optical and acoustic microsystems.
- Optical microsystems
The institute develops MEMS scanners, i. H. Microscanner mirrors including control and readout electronics for various types of laser projection displays, for optical measurement and detection systems (e.g. LIDAR) and for applications with high laser power in the field of material processing.
- Acoustic systems
The acoustic systems developed at Fraunhofer ISIT include MEMS loudspeakers and miniaturized ultrasonic transducers. The MEMS loudspeakers with powerful micro drives are designed for use in mobile communication devices. The ultrasonic transducers for frequency ranges from a few kHz to several hundred MHz are used in medical technology, non-destructive testing technology and gesture recognition.
Power electronics business area
The Power Electronics division develops and manufactures active and passive power semiconductor components based on silicon and gallium nitride (GaN). Another working group deals with batteries and battery systems.
The power components such as IGBTs , bi-directional components , PowerMOS circuits and silicon-based diode transistors can be designed for voltage ranges from 10 V to 1200 V. The diodes and transistors based on gallium nitride allow switching frequencies in the MHZ range. The work is supported by numerous modified simulation, design and test tools. The ISIT benefits from many years of experience in the construction and design of CMOS circuits .
Another working group develops batteries and battery systems based on Li-polymer for various areas of application with their respective specific requirements. Examples are batteries with a particularly high energy density for a long range in electric vehicles or accumulators with a high power density in order to be able to charge and discharge them quickly. The latter is of particular interest when storing wind energy to stabilize the grid.
Micro manufacturing process business area
This business area offers special clean room processes and services for the production of silicon components for industrial partners. Processes are being developed to build and package chips, sensors and actuators in the wafer assembly. The so-called wafer level packaging (WLP) has become a central area of responsibility of the business area, because more and more chip manufacturers worldwide are relying on this packaging process.
In addition, ultra-thin electronic assemblies are being developed in which flexible silicon chips up to 50 μm thick are mounted on flexible substrates. These processes will lead to a further miniaturization of existing systems such as laptops or cell phones, but also enable new products.
German Future Prize 2004
The institute was awarded the German Future Prize 2004 for the “Laboratory on the Chip” project carried out in cooperation with Siemens and Infineon . The prize is assigned to people and went to employees Rainer Hintsche (ISIT), Walter Gumbrecht (Siemens) and Roland Thewes (Infineon). This prize is awarded annually by the Federal President for top performance in technology and innovation and is probably the most renowned technology prize in Germany.
The “Laboratory on the Chip” project deals with electrical biochips . The electrical biochips with a micro laboratory on the chip allow a variety of analyzes in the fields of pharmacy , medicine , biochemistry , genetics and microbiology .
Cooperations
The institute is a member of the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics (VµE). The group coordinates the activities of the ten Fraunhofer institutes active in the fields of microelectronics and microintegration. The tasks of Fraunhofer VμE consist in the early detection of new trends in microelectronic technologies and applications.
Fraunhofer ISIT is a participant in the “Research Factory Microelectronics Germany”. These include eleven institutes of the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics, the Ferdinand Braun Institute, Leibniz Institute for High Frequency Technology and the Leibniz Institute for Innovative Microelectronics. With the merger, the institutes want to strengthen the position of the European semiconductor and electronics industry in global competition. The new organization acts as a »Research Factory for Microelectronics Germany« and brings together the capabilities of the individual institutes in a joint cross-location technology pool.
Together with Vishay Siliconix Itzehoe GmbH (VSIG), the institute operates a professional semiconductor production line with all the necessary quality certifications. This line is used for the production of microelectronic components and microsystems as well as for R&D projects for new components and technological processes.
In the university area, there is close cooperation with the Chair for Semiconductor Technology at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU), which covers the basic research needs of Fraunhofer ISIT. The ISIT conducts courses at the CAU.
Spin-offs
Spin-offs from research institutions are part of a strategy, also wanted by the federal government and the federal states, for the utilization of marketable research results (keyword: results not in a drawer, but rather in Germany as a business location). As a rule, employees of the facilities and, if necessary, the institutes themselves participate in such spin-offs.
So far there have been several such spin-offs, also known as “spin-offs”, at Fraunhofer ISIT. For example:
OQmented GmbH
OQmented is a spin-off from the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT. Since 2019, the company has been developing, integrating and selling complete laser scanning solutions consisting of MEMS chips, driver electronics, application-specific system electronics and software.
USound GmbH
USound GmbH is an audio company based in Graz that develops and produces modern audio systems for consumer applications based on MEMS technologies. Process development and production of the audio systems are carried out by various industrial partners on behalf of USound.
CAMPTON Diagnostics UG
CAMPTON Diagnostics UG was founded in 2016 from the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology. The company develops and markets complete measurement systems for point-of-care diagnostics, i.e. for on-site examinations of patients. The focus is on rapid infection diagnosis to detect hepatitis, Zika, Ebola and malaria infections.
AJ E Biochip GmbH
The marketing of the development of the electric biochip, which was awarded the German Future Prize, was spun off as a GmbH by Fraunhofer ISIT. The company has meanwhile launched several types of fully automatic portable analysis devices for the detection of proteins, nucleic acids or antibiotics, for example. In a Europe-wide cooperation network with 15 partners from industry and science, this electrical biochip platform is used for numerous partner-specific applications. The company was sold to Analytik Jena AG in 2007 by the founding shareholders under the direction of Managing Director Rainer Hintsche and integrated there.
MEMS Foundry
As a spin-off from the field of assembly and connection technology, a production line with a capacity of 100,000 wafers per year for chip-size packaging in the ISIT clean rooms was set up in cooperation with the Erfurt company X-FAB , which is operated jointly. In 2012, X-FAB acquired the majority of shares in the joint company and operates the clean rooms as a foundry for customer-specific microsystems and related components.
Custom Cells Itzehoe GmbH
Custom Cells Itzehoe GmbH was founded in 2012 as a spin-off of the Integrated Energy Systems research department . The company closes an existing market niche between research and development and end-user markets with a high degree of specialization by incubating research results and bringing them to the relevant markets. The focus of energy storage systems is on special applications such as B. Lithium batteries for high temperature applications, small series of accumulators with special geometries, electrode foils for series manufacturers and semi-finished battery products as a reproducible test environment for battery research. Custom Cells is closely networked in the battery market and, in addition to its cooperation with Fraunhofer ISIT, maintains a cooperation with Altana AG.
Infrastructure
Around 160 people are employed.
The operating budget in the 2018 financial year was 25.0 million euros. About 32% of this came from the basic funding, 90% of which is financed from federal funds and 10% from state funds. Around 30% of the operating budget was income from contract research by the private sector, the remaining funds (38%) come from public and other income.
The ISIT has a 200 mm silicon technology for front-end processes (MOS and PowerMOS). on 2500 m² clean room area . Specific processes for MEMS as well as for packaging are carried out in a separate clean room (1000 m²) built in 2014. In addition, various laboratories are set up at ISIT on an area of 1500 m².
Technology platforms
The ISIT has numerous individual technologies for chip production, each of which is combined in a qualified manner to form various specific technology-process platforms. They form a construction kit for the implementation of various microchips . In addition, Fraunhofer ISIT has other technology offers, for example for the development of lithium batteries.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 20121102_X-FAB_Anteilserhöhung an MFI - Fraunhofer ISIT. (No longer available online.) In: isit.fraunhofer.de. November 2, 2012, formerly in the original ; accessed on May 15, 2017 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA: Altana and CCI cooperate in the development of energy storage systems | chemanager-online.com - chemistry and life science. Retrieved January 18, 2018 .
- ↑ http://www.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/zv/de/publikationen/Magazin/2013/3-2013/weitervorn_3-2013.pdf
Coordinates: 53 ° 57 ′ 25.8 " N , 9 ° 28 ′ 58" E