Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS
Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS

Director

Professor Matthias Petzold

Prof. Dr. Matthias Petzold, Deputy Director

Prof. Dr. Matthias Petzold has been a member of the institute's management since 2003. From October 2019 until the end of 2021 he acted as acting institute director of the Fraunhofer IMWS, since then as deputy institute director. He studied physics at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Halle (Saale) and received his doctorate in 1987. After working at the university and for two years for the ceramics industry, he moved in 1991 to the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials in Halle, the predecessor institution of the Fraunhofer IMWS, which was currently being established.

Since its foundation as a branch office in 1992, he has contributed significantly to the establishment and scientifically and economically successful development of the institute with his diverse activities in the fields of materials research and diagnostics of microelectronic devices, strength and reliability of silicon microsystems and investigation of reaction mechanisms of dental products.

From 2003 to 2010, Matthias Petzold was deputy institute section head, then deputy institute director. He headed the business unit "Components of Microelectronics and Microsystems Technology" from 2008 until his appointment as acting institute director. In 2007, he was appointed honorary professor for microsystems technology at Merseburg University of Applied Sciences (FH). Matthias Petzold is author and co-author of more than 100 publications in journals and conference proceedings as well as of various invited lectures at international conferences. He is also active as a reviewer for various international journals.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Höche

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Prof. Dr. Thomas Höche, Deputy Director

Prof. Dr. Thomas Höche has been Deputy Head of the Fraunhofer IMWS since October 1, 2019. Born in Halle, he studied physics at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg. This was followed by stints at the Max Planck Institute for Metal Research in Stuttgart, at the Otto Schott Institute for Glass Chemistry at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, at the Chair of Crystallography of the Institute of Physics at Humboldt University in Berlin and at the Leibniz Institute for Surface Modification e.V. Leipzig (IOM). Parallel to his work at the IOM, he joined 3D-Micromac AG in Chemnitz, where he was responsible for IP management and strategic corporate development, among other things.

In 2005 he completed his habilitation procedure at the University of Leipzig, where he was appointed Associate Professor of Experimental Physics in 2008. He has been working at Fraunhofer IMWS since 2010, where he has been Head of the “Optical Materials and Technologies” business unit since 2018.

His research focuses on the nanostructuring of inorganic materials, especially glass ceramics and optical thin films, as well as their characterization with sophisticated techniques of microstructure diagnostics. In addition, there is the commercialization of new preparation techniques, such as the microPREPTM.

Höche has published more than 200 articles in referenced journals and holds around 30 patents and patent applications. His awards include the Max von Laue Prize of the German Society for Crystallography (2006), the Innovation Prize of TÜV SÜD (2018) and the Hugo Junkers Prize of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, 1st place in the category »Applied Research» (2018).

Thomas Merkel

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Thomas Merkel, Administration Manager

Thomas Merkel studied law at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and at the University of Zurich with a focus on business law. Following his second state examination, he worked as Legal Counsel in the legal department of Credit Suisse in Frankfurt am Main. There, he was mainly involved with issues of employment, banking, corporate and commercial law. Thomas Merkel was admitted to the bar in September 2004 and additionally to the bar as an in-house lawyer in 2016.

In July 2007, he joined the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft as a consultant to the institute's management for human resources and law at what is now the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS. Since January 2009, he has been Head of Administration for the Fraunhofer IMWS and thus responsible for the individual areas of finance, human resources, technical services and IT as well as for the area of law and compliance. Within the institute management, he takes over the administrative tasks of the Fraunhofer IMWS and represents the institute Director in these areas, among other things as an interface to the central administration of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. On a higher level, Thomas Merkel is involved in committees of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft.