Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS
Microelectronics ensure that modern cars are made safer, more economical to run and more efficient. At the Fraunhofer IMWS in Halle, new solutions are developed to increase the quality and reliability of these components. This plays an important role in the industry, especially in view of trends such as autonomous driving.
»Microelectronics plays a very significant role in the automotive industry and failure diagnostics methods are enormously important for reliability«, said Professor Matthias Petzold, Head of the FraunhoferCenter for Applied Microstructure Diagnostics CAM, which is part of the Fraunhofer IMWS.
The Fraunhofer CAM regularly hold workshops in which it brings together top international researchers in the field of failure diagnostics and experts of leading companies, for example, from the automotive industry and semiconductor production.
Uwe Girgsdies, head of the »Robust Design« department at Audi, opened the most recent workshop with his talk on the development of reliable vehicle electronics. The car of tomorrow will be networked – with the driver, with other cars or the workshop. That is why the semiconductor industry is now an important partner for car manufacturers in their search for innovations. The continuously growing number of sensors and chips used increases traffic safety considerably, as shown by airbags, parking aids and driver-assistance systems. This is why the reliability of the microelectronic components is so enormously important.
Current questions regarding storage components and new methods and equipment for failure diagnostics - also research focuses of the Fraunhofer IMWS, are also discussed in the workshops. The participants also visit the institute’s laboratories. There they experience how microelectronic components are analyzed, for example, using computer tomography and electron microscopy, or are tested for reliability in climate chambers and using mechanical load tests.