Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWSThe ongoing miniaturization and complexity of electronic components requires new technologies and innovative material solutions. To achieve real industrial application potential, ensuring functionality, quality and service life in use is obligatory and has to be taken into account in technological developments. In global markets, reliability is a key differentiator for competitive products. This is especially true for products manufactured in Germany and Europe.
Thus, our research work focuses on the further development of methods of high-performance microstructural analysis and their targeted use for the evaluation and analysis of process-related and reliability-determining influences on the functionality of microelectronic and power electronic components, as well as micromechanical sensors and actuators. The focus of our activities is specifically on the detection, analysis and control of electrical and mechanical defects in materials and components of microelectronics, power electronics and microsystems technology as well as related semiconductor and nanotechnologies. In these areas, we work with leading international semiconductor manufacturers, producers of microelectronic and power electronic components and systems with applications primarily in reliability-critical automotive electronics, but also with producers in the field of modern electronic communication systems and the consumer goods industry.
Furthermore, in the field of trustworthy electronics, we are researching new, more powerful analytical methods for counterfeit detection and resilience testing of security features in electronic components and systems.