High-Tech Microelectronics from a Single Source
Fresh cash for a new production line at the Ferdinand-Braun-Institute
Adlershof’s researcher and companies are advancing the development of microelectronics. The Ferdinand-Braun-Institute, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH), is one of the big players in applied research. Together with other experts from the „Research Fab Microelectronics Germany” (RFMG), the Adlershof-based institute is paving the way for future technologies.
“Industry 4.0”? E-Mobility? Real-time communications technology? None of these would exist if it weren’t for micro and nanoelectronics. High-performance small-scale electronics are a cross-sector key technology for the digital transformation. The Research Fab Microelectronics Germany will be powerful driving force behind these developments. It aims at providing research services across the innovation chain from a single source.
“The RFMG is a unique asset to the German and European semiconductor and electronics industry, which will strengthen its international position,” says Prof Günther Tränkle, director of the Ferdinand-Braun-Institute. “The research in Germany on this field is very strong but it was lacking a common infrastructure.” This is now changing: together with twelve other research institutes and more than 2,000 scientists, the Adlershof-based institute is one of the biggest smart systems technology pools worldwide. The Federal Ministry for Education and Research is supporting the RFMG with 350 million euros, 117.2 million euros of which will go to Berlin and Brandenburg for modernising and expanding the local Leibniz and Fraunhofer-Institutes’ technological infrastructures. As one of the world’s leading institutes for applied and industry-oriented research in microwave technology and optoelectronics, the FBH in Adlershof will play a significant role in this process. “The institutes and companies in Adlershof are well-positioned as it is, but the extension of the infrastructure and the more closely-knit cooperation between institutes and the industry is providing more options for local players, for example, in device engineering,” says Tränkle.
The cross-institute research will focus on silicon-based technologies, compound semiconductors and special substrates, heterointegration as well as design, testing and reliability. “The FBH is contributing its expertise to developing energy-efficient semiconductor components,” says Tränkle, adding that, “here in Adlershof, we are researching novel materials and designing e-mobility components, alternative energy sources and future mobile communication. We are also developing components in the terahertz range, which are used in non-destructive testing and quantum technology that will facilitate tap-proof data transmission and high-precision measuring devices.”
The project will funnel 34.2 million euros into the FBH by 2021, creating a production line for terahertz and power electronics components under cleanroom conditions at the Centre for Microsystems and Materials. One of those machines is up and running. This 1-million-euro high-tech facility, funded by the research ministry, was built by Sentech Instruments, an Adlershof-based company, which is specialised on devices for plasma process technology, thin-film measurement and photovoltaics. It has been working together with the FBH on research projects and supplying it with equipment for more than 20 years. “These cooperation efforts and the RFMG are a source of fresh ideas,” says Albrecht Krüger, Sentech’s CEO.
The Sentech machine for RFMG comprises three modules. Two of them are used for “reactive ion etching” for application in, for example, the production of wafers. Ion etching creates ultra-fine structures by shooting materials with tiny, electrically-charged particles. Moreover, the facility produces ultra-thin, three-dimensional layers on a source material using atomic layer deposition. This technology was not available to the FBH up to now. “Micro-optics and optoelectronics are an important future field,” says Krüger, “which is why the Research Fab is so important for companies and institutes in Adlershof.” Krüger is sure: “This will create an important impulse for the technology.”
By Chris Löwer for Adlershof Journal