Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon TechnologyNew Materials and Microsystems in Research and Teaching
Fraunhofer ISIT establishes a branch at the University of Kiel
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology (ISIT) in Itzehoe are expanding their collaboration in research and teaching: at a new ISIT branch at the Faculty of Engineering, researchers from both institutions will in future conduct joint research into miniaturised silicon systems. These are intended for use in the automotive industry, mechanical engineering, entertainment technology and medical technology. The closer cooperation will also benefit students: the results of their joint work are to be incorporated directly into improved teaching programmes and into new, practice-oriented courses based on current research.
“Basic research and applied research complement each other perfectly thanks to this new level of collaboration between the University of Kiel and Fraunhofer ISIT,” says CAU Vice-President Professor Karin Schwarz. With federal and state research funding schemes such as the Excellence Initiative due to expire in a few years’ time, collaborations between different research institutions are a means of remaining internationally competitive.
Fraunhofer ISIT has been collaborating with the University of Kiel since its foundation in 1993. “For Fraunhofer ISIT, the University of Kiel’s nanolab is an excellent complement to its production-oriented research laboratories in Itzehoe, as it allows the institute to address fundamental scientific questions there as well,” says Professor Bernhard Wagner, explaining the benefits of sharing infrastructure. The deputy director of Fraunhofer ISIT, like its director Professor Wolfgang Benecke, also holds a chair at the University of Kiel.
Eight researchers, including four PhD students, are based at the Fraunhofer Institute’s new site in Kiel, within the Faculty of Engineering, where they are focusing on the development of new transducer principles for sensors and actuators based on piezoelectric materials. Piezoelectric ceramics have the property of deforming rapidly when an electrical voltage is applied to them. This deformation can be utilised, for example, to drive small, tiltable micromirrors. Such micromirrors form the heart of miniaturised laser projectors and distance-measuring systems in cars. The researchers are developing high-performance electrodes to control the piezoelectric materials and are working on concepts for regulating piezoelectrically driven microsystems.
In addition, the scientists are investigating novel materials to harvest electrical energy from sources such as ambient temperature or air flows. Components for environmental analysis and specialised coating techniques for micro-optics are also on the branch’s agenda. To ensure the research programme can be carried out, investment has also been made in several pieces of modern equipment, which are simultaneously available to the CAU’s Centre of Excellence for Nanosystems Technology.
Students of electrical engineering and materials science at the University of Kiel can look forward to a number of new opportunities arising from the establishment of the Fraunhofer branch. Seminars on process technology, lithography, microsystems technology and semiconductor technology, as well as an application-oriented placement in electrical engineering and optics, should equip students for careers in industry and academia.
“It is not only Kiel as a centre for research and business that will be strengthened by the closer collaboration between CAU and Fraunhofer ISIT, but the whole of the Schleswig-Holstein region,” says CAU Vice-President Schwarz with confidence.