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Center for Microtechnologies
ZfM

Press Release

The international Symposium on Smart Integrated Systems takes place in Chemnitz August 12, 2014. It is held on occasion of Professor Dr. Thomas Geßner's 60th birthday.

Welcome speeches will be given by Dr. Hans-Otto Feldhütter (Head of department Technology Marketing and Business Models, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft), Dr. Reinhard Zimmermann (Deputy Head of Research and Technology Department of Saxon State Ministry for Higher Education, Research and the Art), Barbara Ludwig (Mayor of the City of Chemnitz) and Prof. Dr. Arnold van Zyl (Rector of TU Chemnitz). Afterwards national and international scientists and experts from industry present latest developments in the fields of microelectronics, microsystem technology and smart systems.

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Prof. Dr. Thomas Geßner within the clean room of the Chemnitz branch of Fraunhofer IZM, 2003. Photo: Uwe Meinhold

Smart systems are more and more used in our daily life. Smart Systems are self-sufficient intelligent technical systems or subsystems with advanced functionality. They combine sensors, actuators, data processing and communication. They work more and more energy autonomously, that means they have either an internal energy supply or an energy harvester. They are miniaturized, networked, predictive and their operation being further enhanced by their ability to mutually address, identify and work in consort with each other. They are a key technology for the internet of things.

In Europe, the science of Smart Systems is closely associated with Thomas Geßner. Prof. Geßner is not only one of the founders of EPoSS, the European Platform on Smart Systems Integration, but has also been chairman of the international Smart Systems Integration Conference and Exhibition since its foundation in 2007. This success story began at the Center for Microtechnologies of the Technische Universität Chemnitz. The development of various micro-sensors and micro-actuators raised the question of how to transfer the results of basic research and the initial prototypes into applications. The idea of setting up a department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM in Chemnitz was put into practice in 1998. In the years that followed, this department evolved into Micro Devices and Equipment, the Chemnitz branch of Fraunhofer IZM. A second department – Micro Materials Center Chemnitz – was integrated in 2006, and in 2008 the Chemnitz branch was granted the status of a Fraunhofer research institution. Thanks to its dynamic management and workforce, the institution’s progress was so impressive that it was made an independent institute – Fraunhofer ENAS – in 2011.

The researchers at the ZfM at Technische Universität Chemnitz and Fraunhofer ENAS develop technologies for micro and nanoelectronics, MEMS/NEMS as well as system integration technologies. They develop single components (sensors, actuators, batteries and communication interfaces) as well as integrated systems for different applications. Examples are smart medical systems, smart condition monitoring systems for mechanical engineering, smart systems for aeronautics and mobility as well as autonomous sensor networks for the optimization of the capacity utilization of high-tension power lines.

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