Fraunhofer IPMS bids farewell to Hubert Lakner on his retirement

During this time, the institute developed into one of the most successful in the field of microelectronics in the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. On 1^st October 2024, he took his well-deserved retirement.

Hubert Lakner joined the institute in 1998, which at the time was still a Dresden branch of the ‘Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS’ based in Duisburg. He quickly recognised the potential of the location in Silicon Saxony and worked to establish the branch of the institute as an independent ‘Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS’. This was accomplished in 2003; Lakner took over the position of Institute Director. At the time of his takeover, the institute had 160 employees and a budget of around €15 million. Today, Fraunhofer IPMS is an integral part of the Dresden and national semiconductor industry with over 500 employees and a quadrupled budget.

Expansion of Fraunhofer IPMS into one of the leading microelectronics institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Under the management of Hubert Lakner, the institute underwent continuous development, which was accompanied by an expansion of the institute's buildings and technical infrastructure. In addition to a comprehensive refurbishment of the buildings on Maria-Reiche-Straße during ongoing operations, a new clean room was inaugurated in 2007. Further modernisations followed successively.

As early as 2012, Lakner demonstrated its innovative spirit and recognised the 300mm wafer standard as the technology of the future. When the Center Nanoelectronic Technologies (CNT), founded as a public-private partnership with Qimonda (then AMD) and Infineon, was no longer viable as an independent research facility following the bankruptcy of Qimonda, he took it over as a department within Fraunhofer IPMS. With his foresight, Lakner also focused on a close partnership with industry when it came to MEMS technologies: in 2016, the clean rooms were systematically converted from the 150mm to the industrial 200mm wafer standard.

In addition to the main Fraunhofer IPMS site on Maria-Reiche-Straße and the secondary CNT site in Dresden, the institute was pleased to open the ‘Integrated Silicon Systems’ branch in Cottbus in 2018 and to establish the Fraunhofer Center Erfurt together with Fraunhofer IOF and IZI. With now four locations in Saxony, Brandenburg, and Thuringia, Fraunhofer IPMS has established itself as a major player in microelectronics in Germany.

Extensive networking for microelectronics in Germany and Europe

In addition to his management activities and professorship, Hubert Lakner was intensively involved in the entire microelectronics sector. For example, he was highly committed to the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics, which he chaired from 2011 to 2019. During this time, he coordinated strategy development within the Group's 11 institutes and thus played a pioneering role in the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Under his initiative, the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD), one of the largest associations of its kind in the field of R&D worldwide, was created from the Group in 2017 in cooperation with the Leibniz Institutes FBH and IHP.

At the same time, Lakner was keen to promote microelectronics throughout Europe. Through his involvement in numerous committees, commissions and speaker activities, he networked himself and the industry throughout Europe. One highlight at European level was the founding of the ‘Heterogenous Technology Alliance’ (HTA), a research cooperation between leading European research institutions CEA-Leti (France), CSEM (Switzerland), the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics (Germany), and VTT (Finland). Fraunhofer IPMS also maintains close cooperation with imec, based in Belgium, which is reflected in numerous joint projects, particularly in the field of quantum computing.

The fact that the European Chips Act is now in the starting blocks at the end of his term of office shows the continued relevance of Lakner's vision of strong, joint European microelectronics for industry and research.

Prof. Dr. Hubert Lakner has now retired as of 1st October 2024. There will be a call for applications to succeed him as head of the institute. Until then, Prof. Dr. Harald Schenk will act as the sole managing director of the institute.