Tech News

When you mix together black and white, you get gray — and with it, a new method that should allow complex electronic systems to monitor themselves. Using so-called grey box models, on which researchers at the Fraunhofer Insti- tute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM are working, it will be possible to detect signs of wear or manipulation in electronic systems at an early stage, be- fore an actual failure occurs. The new process is being initially developed and tested for safety-critical applications in the automotive and rail sectors. The basic principle can, however, be transferred to many more application areas.

Two years ago, our Institute’s site in Moritzburg – the »All Silicon System Integration Dresden – ASSID« - was able to celebrate a decade of successful work. This year saw a change at the helm, with Dr. Manuela Junghähnel (MJ) taking over at the top. We are excited to have her with us! The career of the trained technical physicist shows that empathy and ambition can go and in hand.

A consortium of Fraunhofer institutes and well-known German industrial companies is developing a split-manufacturing approach 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.

The European Commission is determined to make smartphones and tablets easier on our environment. Two draft sets of regulations are introducing a comprehensive ecodesign catalogue as part of the EU’s circular economy action plan.

The vision of cars that drive or planes that fly themselves can only become true if the electronics on board can determine where they are in space, anytime and with reliable precision. In the aerospace sector, this job is given over to optical gyroscopes that measure light to check and stabilize the course of a vessel in flight. But such gyroscopes can be affected by certain material properties or by electrical or magnetic fields – and the consequences can be disastrous. This is why a German-Polish research consortium has come together to develop a reliable means to transmit light to make gyroscopes less susceptible to interference. Their secret: Hollow-core fibers that can channel light with minimal loss.

Increasing the share of recycled plastics in new products is a central aspect of the European Strategy for Plastics, adopted by the European Commission in 2018 as a part of the first Circular Economy Action Plan (2015). One of the main goals of the Strategy is to “ensure that by 2025 10 million tonnes of recycled plastics find their way into new products on the EU market”, against less than 4 million tonnes in 2016.

A technique developed at Fraunhofer IZM offers a new way of integrating electrically conductive elements in glass, with the metal microstructures not deposited on the surface, but embedded and encased in the glass itself.

Die International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) hat im Juli 2022 auf der jährlichen Versammlung des Mitgliederrats zum ersten Mal fünf ausgewählte Projekte mit dem „Project Leadership Awards“ ausgezeichnet. Gleich drei IZM-Forschende aus der Abteilung Environmental and Reliability Engineering (ERE) haben in zwei der ausgezeichneten Projekte mitgearbeitet.

As part of the “PICWeld” Eurostars project, Fraunhofer IZM researchers, working with their partners LioniX International BV, Phix Photonics Assembly and ficonTEC Service GmbH, have developed an adhesive-free, space-saving and robust laser welding process for fixing optical fibers to PICs.

This year Fraunhofer IZM was represented with exhibition booths at PCIM Europe, SMTconnect and Sensor+Test. The three spring trade fairs for the electronics industry were held on site in Nuremberg from 10-12 May 2022, for the first time since 2019. Participants, organizers and exhibitors alike were delighted to come together in person again.