The focus is on the next generation of microelectronic components and the production of transitions between fiber-reinforced plastic

Researchers at TU Dresden are celebrating two additional successes in the latest German Research Foundation (DFG) funding round. At its meeting on November 22, 2024, the DFG approved the creation of the Collaborative Research Center Transregio (SFB / TRR) 404: Next Generation Electronics With Active Devices in Three Dimensions [Active-3D]. In this Transregio, TU Dresden as the coordinating university (spokesperson: Prof. Thomas Mikolajick) and RWTH Aachen will work on the development of the next generation of microelectronic components.
The establishment proposal for SFB/TRR 402: Intelligent Production Technologies for Lightweight Plastic Structures with Load-Dedicated 3D-Gradation of Reinforcement Architecture (DediGrad) was also successful. Chemnitz University of Technology is the coordinating university (Prof. Lothar Kroll), with TU Dresden (site spokesperson: Prof. Steffen Ihlenfeldt) and RWTH Aachen University as the other participating universities.

The main component of integrated circuits on chips are individual transistors, which have become ever smaller and more powerful over time. This scalability led to lower costs and is the main reason for the use of integrated circuits in almost all products. In recent years, however, there has been no significant reduction in a transistor's size, and chip technology seems to have reached its peak performance limit. The SFB/Transregio Next Generation Electronics With Active Devices in Three Dimensions wants to utilize the volume above chip surface by means of novel, active components. This should ultimately lead to the development of 3D systems, which will further increase the performance and processing speed of chips.

The team plans to use the volume above chip surface by integrating active components into the metallization (back-end of line, BEOL) which enable logic and memory functions as well as actively switchable connections. Innovative components will be developed on the basis of new materials. These components will be integrated into circuits and systems that promise improvements with regard to the key indicators of performance, processing speed, and surface area. Material, technology, and circuits will be developed simultaneously and in interaction with each other (co-development approach to technology, design, and system), opening up the possibility of distributing functionalities across volume previously reserved for passive wiring, thus fully utilizing chip volume.

Achieving this active BEOL requires the integration and customization of a large number of different materials, highly developed manufacturing technologies, an in-depth understanding of the interaction between materials, their processing and resulting device properties, and, not least, a completely new perspective of circuit and system design. In this Transregio (TRR), the teams at TU Dresden will focus primarily on the reliability of the developed components, structural analyses, the overall integration of the various individual elements, and approaches to system design tailored to this novel architecture.

To this end, the TRR will work with renowned experts from Dresden and Aachen. The researchers, led by the two TRR spokespersons, Prof. Thomas Mikolajick (TU Dresden) and Prof. Max Lemme (RWTH Aachen), have been working intensively on the Active-3D idea for some time. This paved the way to the development of sub-projects that can be implemented across both locations, thus making good use of the high-caliber infrastructure at both sites. Prof. Mikolajick reports with pride on the successful application: “The TRR Next Generation Electronics With Active Devices in Three Dimensions (Active-3D) will strengthen Germany's and Europe's position in basic microelectronics research. The researchers involved at the various locations are ideally placed to investigate the use of the entire volume of a chip for active components. Particularly here in Dresden, academic research is indispensable in supplying ideas for future uses in industry, and in advancing Germany's sovereign position in microelectronics.”

As their name suggests, SFB/Transregio 402 want to research Intelligent Production Technologies for Lightweight Plastic Structures with Load-Dedicated 3D-Gradation of Reinforcement Architecture. The research will focus on the production of transitions between fiber-reinforced plastic. To date, transitions have posed a major challenge for the serial production of lightweight structures. To this end, the group will utilize 3D grading in material transitions. This method allows for the creation of seamless material transitions that improve the properties of the material when subjected to stress. This could be used in the future, for example, to manufacture road vehicles, railway vehicles, aircraft, and agricultural machinery with greater resource efficiency and, as a result, with less environmental impact.

Successful lightweight construction reduces component weight and thus enables rigid yet slender structures. This can reduce the energy required to move these assemblies, achieve higher accelerations, or enable larger component structures. However, lightweight construction using the classic hybrid method has a major disadvantage. Due to a lack of fiber components, critical stress instabilities can occur in the boundary layers between two materials, as power transmission only occurs via the plastic and can lead to sudden material failure in the event of overloading. As a result, significant weight-saving potential is lost due to the need for oversizing. Under the direction of Prof. Lothar Kroll (Chemnitz University of Technology), researchers at Chemnitz University of Technology (coordinating university), RWTH Aachen and TU Dresden want to resolve these abrupt material transitions in component design using 3D grading and develop the corresponding foundational technologies for this.

The challenges lie in mastering the mechanisms of action for fiber orientation, the huge variety of parameters, and the wide parameter fluctuations. All of this leads to a level of system complexity that cannot be managed at present. The researchers want to counter this with a model-based, intelligent development and production system, which will continuously collect, merge, and evaluate data across projects and make suggestions for optimal component and process development in the future. TU Dresden is involved in five sub-projects with a total of seven academic staff positions, with the Chair of Machine Tools Development and Adaptive Controls, Chair of Function-Integrative Lightweight Engineering, Chair of Lightweight Design and Structural Assessment, Chair of Virtual Product Development, and the Chair of Laser-based Manufacturing. The Dresden site will focus, among other things, on the functionalization of fiber-reinforced tapes using laser preparation, the manipulation of fiber elements using electromagnets, the development of a digital twin, tool development using generative AI methods, and evaluating the sustainability of the developed methods.

About the Collaborative Research Center/ Transregio (CRC/TRR) format
A CRC/Transregio is jointly applied for and hosted by two or three universities. It enables close collaboration between these universities and their researchers, including the joint use of resources. All partners involved in the project contribute essential, complementary and synergetic work. Collaborative Research Centers and CRC/Transregio may additionally integrate projects under the direction of researchers from other universities or non-university research institutions.

Contact for media inquiries

TRR 404 Active-3D
Matthias Hahndorf
Science Communication
TUD Dresden University of Technology
cfaed – Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden
Email
Tel.: +49 351 463 42847

TRR 402 DediGrad
Dr.-Ing. Lars Penter
TUD Dresden University of Technology
Institute of Mechatronic Engineering
Chair of Machine Tools Development and Adaptive Controls
Tel.: +49 351 463 42361
Email: