Dear Readers,
Corona dominated events again this year with high infection numbers in the spring, a hopeful summer and a massive return of the pandemic in the fall. ISIT was able to adapt well to this situation and therefore had a very successful year despite all adversities.
2021, we were not only able to prove that we are working on socially important topics, but also that our researchers are achieving outstanding results.
For example, ISIT scientist Dr. Simon Fichtner was awarded the Hugo Geiger Prize in March for his outstanding doctoral achievements in the field of applied research.
Fichtner wrote his dissertation at Kiel University (CAU) in recent years - in close connection with Fraunhofer ISIT projects. In his doctoral thesis, he made an astonishing discovery: the piezoelectric material AIScN has ferroelectric properties. Ferroelectric components can give semiconductor elements an enormous performance boost, e.g. in the field of next generation computing. Accordingly, the interest of international experts is great. Fraunhofer ISIT is already booking industrial orders for AIScN devices amounting to about four million euros. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is supporting follow-up research with 2.3 million euros. The US research agency DARPA has also called for the creation of further projects for research into AIScN.
The highlight in scientific terms for ISIT was the awarding of the Fraunhofer Prize 2021 to ISIT scientists Martin Witt and Michael Kampmann and to Dr. Jacqueline Atanelov, scientist at IMS Nanofabrication. The team has been able to push the previously reached limit a good deal on the way to ever smaller and more powerful microchips. The award from the president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, was given for the development of a complex microsystem chip that forms the heart of an electron multibeam mask recorder. With this mask writer, the complex structures of today's and tomorrow's highly miniaturized microchips can be produced in high quality and resolution within a few hours: this makes the novel mask writer unrivaled to date. Market demand is correspondingly high. IMS currently generates annual sales of 400 million US dollars with its devices. This is also noticeable at Fraunhofer ISIT: Industry sales significantly exceed one million euros per year. The award-winning technology thus not only enables further miniaturization, but also goes hand in hand with outstanding economic success.
However, it was not only our experienced scientists who demonstrated their capabilities, but also young career starters who scored points. Artem Kormann, for example, was honored by Deputy Prime Minister Monika Heinold as Germany's best trainee. We are very proud of our exemplary microtechnologist with distinction.
ISIT made great efforts in 2021 to ensure that the institute remains a competent contact for future topics. A special focus this year was on reliable drive technologies and energy storage systems for electromobility.
In order to advance such topics related to the energy transition, we have significantly strengthened our cooperation with Kiel University (CAU) and established a joint research group on "Electronic Energy Systems". Located at the CAU's Faculty of Engineering, the research group will receive a total of five million euros in funding in the first phase - half from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and half from the state of Schleswig-Holstein. We are pursuing very ambitious goals: After three years, the working group should already be largely self-sufficient. In the long term, the working group is to become a sub-institute of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft at the location of the Technical Faculty. The "Electronic Energy Systems" working group is headed by Professor Marco Liserre. With initially three thematic modules - "Future-oriented power grids", "Intelligent storage technologies for electromobility" and "Semiconductors - reliable and durable" - we will advance energy transition research in Schleswig-Holstein in the working group.
The second major effort is the establishment of the Research Center for Applied Battery Technology Schleswig-Holstein (FAB-SH). The research center will be located in a former logistics building in the immediate vicinity of Fraunhofer ISIT. Starting in 2023, around 30 employees and 20 students will work on the development of battery storage systems for maritime, stationary and medical applications, as well as new production technologies for battery storage systems, among other things, in 3400 m² of laboratory and office space. With ISIT's unique, innovative technologies such as the dry coating of electrodes and other separator and cell technologies, we can develop, for example, high-performance cells and high-temperature accumulators whose performance is in the top range of current cell generations. Thus, Schleswig-Holstein with its location in Itzehoe finally moves into the first league of battery research.
ISIT was officially inaugurated in March 1996 and had its 25th anniversary in 2021; certainly a reason to celebrate, but difficult to implement in Corona times. Larger celebratory events in pandemic times were self-evidently forbidden. Nevertheless, we launched two special projects to mark the birthday.
On the initiative of our colleague Katja Reiter, ISIT participated in the art project Lumen & Colours of the KulturBahnhof Itzehoe. The ISIT colleagues were called upon to submit photos for this project: 200 pictures from the fields of research, clean room and microscopy came together, all of them small works of art.
On November 5, the time had come: more than 200 visitors found their way to the outskirts of the city to watch this special event in the open air. The images were projected onto the huge facade of our cleanroom building by a mega-projector with a tremendous light output. The impression of the images was amazing, because the building facade with its wafer structure is already a work of art in its own right, and in the optical fusion with the images, a completely new and interesting aesthetic was created.
The second birthday highlight was our Dance Challenge. Led by dance instructor Nikolas Plett, about 30 colleagues rehearsed a dance to the music Iko Iko. For four weeks, there were practice sessions almost every day at lunchtime. Filming then took place in September at various locations and, of course, with matching accessories: silicon wafers were used as well as protective suits for the clean room. We wanted to show with the video: At the institute, there is not only excellent research, but also fun at work.
Within the campaign period of four weeks, we achieved video views and page impressions in dimensions that we had previously not been able to achieve with our research topics. The Dance Challenge was not only birthday fun, but also so far the most effective marketing measure we have ever initiated for ISIT.
The review of the year 2021 shows: ISIT is on the right track. The organizational realignment with regard to strategy, controlling, operations and human resources is showing clear success, both economically and scientifically. We can look to the future with confidence, especially since the topics ISIT is dealing with are of great topicality in Germany right now. Our strategic partner Vishay is starting to build a large 300 mm clean room in Itzehoe, in Heide a large battery cell factory is to be built by Northvolt with about 3000 employees and (a little further away) in Magdeburg Intel is building a gigantic chip factory. Things are happening in the north, and this opens up a wide range of opportunities for us. We are well prepared to take advantage of them.
Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology