Other Projects

Die Forschung an neuen Materialien spielt einezentrale Rolle bei der Weiterentwicklung von elektronischen Bauelementen. Besondere Beachtungerfahren in der Wissenschaft derzeit sogenannte 2D-Materialien, welche im Vergleich zu Bulkmaterialiendeutliche Unterschiede hinsichtlich ihrer elektrischen, optischen und mechanischen Eigenschaftenaufweisen. Im Rahmen des geplanten Forschungsvorhabens sollen verschiedeneTechniken zur Herstellung von Heterostrukturen aus 2D-Materialien angewandtwerden. Im weiteren Vorgehen sollen hybride Stapel bestehend aus 2D-Materialienmit unterschiedlichen Eigenschaften hergestellt und optisch charakterisiertwerden. Hierfür kommt zur Bestimmung der Anzahl der Einzellagen des2D-Materials ein spezielles, im Rahmen von Vorarbeiten, entwickeltes Verfahrenzum Einsatz. Dieses ermöglicht eine großflächige, zerstörungsfreie und flexibleoptische Charakterisierung der 2D-Materialien.

Themajor goal of the project is the development of novel processes for the surfacepreparation and reclaim of single crystalline Aluminumnitride (AlN) substratesfor the purpose of UVC LEDs production.

Fundamentalobstacles related to the substrate, which were identified as hindrance for the laterfull performance and reliability of a device will be addressed. The developmentof a reclaim procedure will contribute essentially to the cost reduction forthe production of UVC devices and to tap the full potential of the futuremarket of such devices. The project aims to contribute to strengthen thenational and international competitiveness of companies based in Bavariafocusing on the development of optoelectronic devices for disinfectionpurposes.

Liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (LCTEM) is a novel, highly attractive method for in situ studies into dynamic processes of nanoparticulate systems in liquid environment excluding influences of drying effects. For this purpose a small volume of the fluid under investigation is confined between two electron transparent membranes to prevent vaporization in the ultra-high vacuum of an electron microscope. In the context of this project innovative liquid cell architectures are developed and fabricated. Furthermore, these liquid cells are applied to elucidate growth and degradation processes of nanomaterials for getting deeper insights into structure formation, stability and the structure-property relationship of various material systems.

- Spezifikation induktiver Übertrager für raue Umgebungsbedingungen

- Mechatronische 3D-CAD Konstruktion

- Simulative Robustheituntersuchung mittels FEM

- Experimentelle Verifizierung der Robustheit

- Unterstützung bei der praktischen Umstetzung der Demonstratoren

This research project is investigating the application of Soft Magnetic Compounds (SMC) in power electronic systems. These materials got the possibility to form free moldable core geometries, similar to the injection molding method. Thereby any available space for complex inductive components can be used. The work involves the fabrication of SMC-ringcores consisting of different soft magnetic powders (e. g. Manganese-Zinc-Ferrite or Ferrite-Copper-Niobium-Silicium-Boron) with variable main particle sizes. Furthermore the influence of the main particle size and their size distribution at the magnetic properties will be investigated. A new measurement System is designed and constructed in order to characterize the ringcores with high precision in dependency of the frequency, e. g. core losses, permeability and saturation. Based on the measurement results the theoretical foundations have to be verified, simulation models forecasting the permeability of SMC´s will be constructed and new fields of applications have to be developed. 

Among the physical limitations which challenge progress in nanoelectronics for ag-gressively scaled More Moore, process variability is getting ever more critical. Effects from various sources of process variations, both systematic and stochastic, influence each other and lead to variations of the electrical, thermal and mechanical behavior of devices, interconnects and circuits. Correlations are of key importance because they drastically affect the percentage of products which meet the specifications. Whereas the comprehensive experimental investigation of these effects is largely impossible, modelling and simulation (TCAD) offers the unique possibility to predefine process variations and trace their effects on subsequent process steps and on devices and circuits fabricated, just by changing the corresponding input data. This important requirement for and capability of simulation is among others highlighted in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors ITRS.
SUPERAID7 will build upon the successful FP7 project SUPERTHEME which fo-cused on advanced More-than-Moore devices, and will establish a software system for the simulation of the impact of systematic and statistical process variations on advanced More Moore devices and circuits down to the 7 nm node and below, includ-ing especially interconnects. This will need improved physical models and extended compact models. Device architectures addressed in the benchmarks include espe-cially TriGate/ωGate FETs and stacked nanowires, including alternative channel ma-terials. The software developed will be benchmarked utilizing background and side-ground experiments of the partner CEA. Main channels for exploitation will be soft-ware commercialization via the partner GSS and support of device architecture activi-ties at CEA. The Chair of Electron Devices contributes to the development of an inte-grated three-dimensional topography simulator extending background tools from Fraunhofer IISB and TU Wien.

Optical technologies are one of the key technologies of the 21st century. The appli- cations of these technologies range from medicine to information and communica- tion technology and from environmental technology to manufacturing technology. The progress in these technologies often depends on the possibility to predict the behavior of light by simulations of optical waves. However Maxwell equations are very difficult to solve for such kind of applications. Since many wavelengt- hs of light have to be resolved by a fine discretization mesh, high performance computing is very important for research in advanced optical technologies. One aim of the project is to adapt a parallel code for solving Maxwell's equations to current high performance architecture of high performance computers in Er- langen and Munich. This parallel code is based on the library StaggExPDE. For obtaining flexible application and high efficiency, this library utilizes expression templates, structured grids and MPI and OpenMP parallelization. The task of the research project is to develop new software techniques for obtaining optimal efficiency on hybrid HPC systems with multicore architecture using expression templates. The second aim of the project is to apply the library StaggExPDE and its Maxwell solver for two important applications of high performance computing in Erlangen. One of them is thin film solar cell simulations. Since thin film technology is the future technology of solar cells, research in this direction is of general public interest. Another application is lithography simulation. Since masks for producing new chips consist of features of size of the wavelength and below, numerical simulati- ons using high performance computers are extremely important for lithography simulations.

Power converters like DC/DC and DC/AC converters are using MOSFET or IGBT power semiconductor switches. To increase the power density by reducing the size of the passive devices like capacitors, inductors and transformers, a demand for increasing the switching frequency of the power semiconductor switches exists. During this project, a galvanically isolated gate-driver integrated circuit was realized as an ASIC chipset providing a flexible control of the switching speed of the driven power switches (i.e., IGBT or MOSFET).

The basic idea behind the proposed concept is to use a buck-boost stage for controlling the charging and discharging of the gate of the power transistor. To provide an accurate control of the output current and output voltage slopes of the power transistor, a precise charging and discharging of its gate capacity is required during its switching period, thus necessitating an impulse train (i.e., burst) in the Megahertz frequency range. This ASIC was designed in a 0.35µm high-temperature automotive qualified CMOS technology and integrates the time critical and driving-strength dependent analog and mixed-signal parts of the gate-driver circuit. Furthermore, it reduces the switching losses occurring in the gate of the used power devices by using a regenerative switching circuitry. Thanks to these functions, the generated electromagnetic interferences are much better controlled over all the load range in modern power converters using half-bridge or full-bridge topologies in combination with hard switching. The ASIC was assembled in a molded 44pin TQFP plastic package and the maximum switching frequency of the gate-driver when driving a capacitive load with 15V switching voltage was measured to be 25MHz at a 50% duty cycle. By using a complex programmable logic device for generating the pulse sequences in dependence of the load current and providing also the switching sequences for regenerative switching, a large range of power applications can potentially benefit from the developed gate-driver circuit.

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