Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS believe digitalisation, automation and efficiency are the buzzwords of the industry of the future. To this end, the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS develops customer-specific sensors, actuators and optical components. These represent the key technologies for IoT and numerous future applications with artificial intelligence, it claims.

Programmable materials are true shapeshifters. They can change their characteristics in a controlled and reversible way with the push of a button, independently adapting to fit new conditions. 

We want modern technology to become smaller and more energy-efficient without losing quality. Technical innovation is needed to achieve this. For several years, the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS has been researching a novel energy-efficient actuator system for micro loudspeakers.

Photonics focuses on the use of light with all its possibilities. From light control to laser technologies and data transmission, photonics is used in many fields such as medicine, industry, astronomy, microscopy or traffic safety.

The machine and plant manufacturer ystral supports the project Battery Cell Research Manufacturing in Münster / Germany with a mixing and dispersing system in the “FFB PreFab”, which is intended for testing manufacturing processes as well as new recipes for battery cell production. The start of the test operation on the ystral system is scheduled for the end of next year.

The level of automation and efficiency in industry has increased significantly with Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things. This requires more and more sensors, actuators, control devices and machine learning systems. The demand for compact, energy-efficient and advanced technologies as well as miniaturised components with innovative functions is increasing. However, the development of many of these technologies involves high costs and the use o...

Fraunhofer IIS/EAS has announced its first implementation of the Bunch of Wires (BoW) standard-based interface IP from the Open Compute Project (OCP) on Samsung’s 5nm technology.

In everyday life, digital helpers – such as smart apps or cars that think for themselves – are already firmly integrated.

Humans cause too much waste not only on Earth. Space debris is also becoming an ever greater problem. 

A consortium of Fraunhofer institutes and well-known German industrial companies is developing a split-manufacturing project for semiconductor production in the project: Distributed Manufacturing for Novel and Trustworthy Electronics T4T. This will enable the secure assembly of subsystems in Germany and safeguard supply chains.

Highly sensitive electronic components are the drivers of our digitalised world. Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) open up new possibilities for miniaturisation in wide-ranging application areas.

Joseph Fraunhofer was a 19th-century pioneer in optics who brought together scientific research with industrial applications. Fast forward to today and Germany’s Fraunhofer Society – Europe’s R&D organisation – is setting its sights on the applied research of key technologies, from AI to cybersecurity to medicine.

The many innovations resulting from the applied research of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft have so far mainly benefited industrial companies. In the future, Fraunhofer IPMS intends to make its research increasingly available to cultural institutions and thus to the public community.   

Modern vehicles have a large number of electronic systems that are networked with each other.

Anyone who has ever ruined a cake knows that the correct identification of visually similar substances such as sugar and salt have great significance in food preparation. However, complex compositional analyses can also provide information about the quality, ripeness, or freshness of products. Therefore, Fraunhofer IPMS is researching and developing the smallest energy-efficient scanner systems, which enable non-contact and mobile freshness testi...

A flagship of semiconductor research with international reach is emerging in Dresden. Fraunhofer IPMS and Fraunhofer IZM-ASSID are bundling their competences and establishing the Center for Advanced CMOS & Heterointegration Saxony. The center will offer the complete value chain in 300 mm microelectronics, a prerequisite for high-tech research for future technologies.

Spintronic devices are based on using the fundamental spin of electrons to carry and store information. Their use would not require charge currents for their operation and would lead to improved energy efficiency with lower power consumption, higher data processing speed and better integration of memory and logic. However, suitable materials for new spintronic implementations are needed.

Everyone is talking about quantum computers. With the help of high interconnection of as many qubits as possible, huge amounts of data are to be processed more easily, quickly and securely in the future.

The photonic systems of the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS can modulate light using small deflectable mirrors to create images and structures in a unique way. Accordingly, the research institute is developing spatial light modulators with up to several million mirrors on a semiconductor chip.

The High Performance Center is addressing the microchip shortage with the combined expertise of four microelectronics institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft as well as of research groups at universities in Dresden and Chemnitz.