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Fraunhofer Institute Enas plans new microelectronics cleanroom in Chemnitz
To strengthen its research into new materials, processes, reliability tests and systems for microelectronics, the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (Enas) in Chemnitz is planning to build a new clean room technical centre.
05/10/2023
60 million euro complex to be ready for operation in 2026
Chemnitz, 5 October 2023. In order to strengthen its research into new materials, processes, reliability tests and systems for microelectronics, the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (Enas) in Chemnitz is planning to build a new cleanroom technology centre for 60 to 70 million euros and expand its in-house reliability laboratory. This was announced by Enas CEO Prof Harald Kuhn. The new test chip factory should be ready for operation in 2026/27.
Old clean room created in Honecker-ÄraSince it was founded in 2008, Enas has been using a cleanroom whose basic structure dates back to 1979.
The Fraunhofer engineers have installed chip production systems and test technology worth around 100 million euros there. There is now increasing pressure to modernise because microelectronics in Saxony is back on a growth trajectory and the range of technologies is increasing: TSMC is relocating, Infineon is building a new megafab, Globalfoundries and Bosch also want to expand– and technologies such as new-generation power semiconductors, quantum data processing or accelerator chips for artificial intelligence“ are playing a growing role. In addition, Enas has also grown strongly recently: while the institute only had 91 employees in 2010, it now has 250. „We have grown strongly in recent years“, reported the head of the institute. For all these reasons, Kuhn would like to have a more modern cleanroom, in which he wants to install newer systems, for example for atomic layer deposition (ALD), in addition to existing technology.
The Dresden-based Fraunhofer Photonics Institute IPMS recently announced new expansion plans for its „Centre for Advanced CMOS & Heterointegration Saxony“.From microsystems to quantum computers
Among the microelectronics research institutes in Saxony, Enas has focussed primarily on miniature systems circuits, sensors and actuators, modern packaging technologies for chips as well as wafers and microsystems made of various materials.
The new research agenda includes, for example, the integration of very different semiconductor structures according to the Lego plug-together principle – the so-called „heterointegration“. Kuhn and his team also want to develop better ion traps for quantum computer chips and neuron-like memristor chips and make artificial intelligence more suitable for process analysis in chip factories.
Chemnitz scientists develop new test technology for power electronics
The Enas laboratory team is also working on better reliability tests for new circuits. With new measurement technology from Enas, companies such as Infineon or Bosch will in future be able to analyse lighter power electronics to see what currents and voltages they can withstand before they burn out. This is important for future generations of solar and wind power plants, electric cars and railway technology. In particular, Enas wants to develop new „high-power“tests for bipolar transistors with insulated gate electrodes (IGBTs), but also electrical reliability tests for power electronics made of the promising materials gallium nitride and silicon carbide.
We will revolutionise the testing possibilities for these electronics,
promised Enas boss Kuhn to the Saxon Minister of Science Sebastian Gemkow (CDU) and referred to the high global growth rates for power electronics in this class.
Semiconductor research in Chemnitz since the 1970s
Background: The central growth centre for microelectronics in Saxony was and still is Dresden. However, research into semiconductors and microstructures also has a long tradition in Chemnitz: in 1979, a „Technikum Mikroelektronik“ was established in Karl-Marx-Stadt as a joint institution of the technical university and industry. Thisbecame the „Centre for Microtechnologies“ (ZfM) in 1991, which is now part of Chemnitz University but is headed by Enas head Prof. Kuhn. The ZfM currently has two clean rooms with a total area of 1000 square metres. However, the systems there are only designed for silicon wafers with diameters of up to 200 millimetres. Large chip factories and some of the Dresden Fraunhofer Institutes, on the other hand, use 300 mm systems.
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