topping-out ceremony for the Center for Advanced CMOS and Heterointegration Saxony

Visualization for the new construction in northern Dresden. © heinlewischer Architekten Dresden

Cleanroom of the Center for Advanced CMOS & Heterointegration Saxony. © Fraunhofer IPMS

Dr. Manuela Junghähnel, Head of Fraunhofer IZM-ASSID, Dr. Wenke Weinreich, Head of the Center for Nanoelectronic Technologies, Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer, and Prof. Harald Schenk, Director of Fraunhofer IPMS, symbolically hammer in the last nails. © Fraunhofer IPMS

The dedication speech was given by the company Karl Köhler. © Fraunhofer IPMS

Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer delivered a greeting. © Fraunhofer IPMS

The Center for Advanced CMOS and Heterointegration Saxony (short: CEASAX) celebrates the topping-out ceremony of its new office building. CEASAX is a beacon of semiconductor research and is based on the consolidation of the expertise of Fraunhofer IPMS and Fraunhofer IZM-ASSID. The institutes offer the complete value chain in 300mm microelectronics here, providing the foundation for high-tech research into future technologies in the state of Saxony.

The event began with a warm welcome from the institute directors of Fraunhofer IPMS, Prof. Dr. Harald Schenk and Prof. Dr. Hubert Lakner. The site manager of Fraunhofer IZM-ASSID, Dr. Manuela Junghähnel, was also present and sees great opportunities for the further development of 300mm wafer technologies through the strengthening of the joint Fraunhofer competence at the shared building. Lakner emphasizes the importance of the expansion for the technology location Saxony: "At CEASAX, the strengths of the two only German research centers for applied microelectronics research, which research based on 300 mm wafer industry standards, are combined. Within the framework of the European Chips Act, these strengths are more important than ever. The new building provides, in both a literal and figurative sense, space for outstanding microelectronics research."

Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer emphasized: "The Fraunhofer Society is an important part of Saxony's research landscape. The Center for Nanoelectronic Technologies, in particular, stands for creativity, new ideas, and collaboration. It is good that a shared space for research is being created here by the two institutes, IPMS and IZM-ASSID, which have a unique competence in the field of 300mm wafers within the national research landscape. The work done here will help us start and successfully advance many more projects in Silicon Saxony. In this way, we are strengthening Saxony's research permanently, but also our economy as a whole. It is precisely for these reasons that the Free State supports this important project."

Science Minister Sebastian Gemkow added: "This new building and the support for forward-looking research topics such as microelectronics by the Free State of Saxony work closely together when it comes to advancing development in the region. Developing scientific excellence further while keeping the transfer of results into practice firmly in view is a central concern for us. For this, space and communication are needed. The new building here at the site will provide both."

After the speeches, the traditional topping-out toast followed, symbolically celebrating the successful progress of construction.

About the Center for Advanced CMOS and Heterointegration Saxony

With Fraunhofer IZM-ASSID and Fraunhofer IPMS, Center for Nanoelectronic Technologies CNT, two nationally unique research institutions in the field of microelectronics are located in Saxony. Today, they are the only two German research centers for applied microelectronics research that operate based on 300 mm wafer industry standard equipment.

By consolidating expertise and founding the Center for Advanced CMOS & Heterointegration Saxony, excellent prospects are created to attract semiconductor companies and system users, as well as material and equipment manufacturers worldwide, and to bind them to Silicon Saxony. For industry and research projects, in addition to excellent personnel and know-how, modern equipment and plant are crucial.

For the future development of the necessary competencies in microelectronics and microsystems technology, the R&D offerings of Fraunhofer IZM-ASSID and Fraunhofer IPMS regarding 300 mm process competencies are designed and expanded so that local and national industries, from SMEs to large companies (e.g., GlobalFoundries, Infineon, Bosch), can benefit as much as possible from the most modern technologies. The integration platform will also be used in customer-specific projects within the framework of the "Function Integration for Micro-/Nanoelectronics" center of excellence and in the Microelectronics Germany (FMD) research factory.