Imaging Innovation Centre opened for German Nanoanalysis project
The partners are working together on new analytical and characterisation methods required for the development of the next generation of chip manufacturing. The ceremony saw the official opening of the Carl Zeiss Innovation Centre Dresden which is to be is an important module within the joint ‘Nanoanalysis' project.
Dr. Wolf-Dieter Lukas, Head of the BMBF Department Key Technologies, Research for Innovations, announced that the strategic setup and expansion of microelectronics competency centres is an important goal of the BMBF IKT2020 program commented, "Only by setting targeted priorities in research funding will we succeed in maintaining Dresden's leading role in high-tech chip production and in further expanding it through such innovative approaches as here in the field of nanoanalysis."
The newly founded Carl Zeiss Innovation Centre Dresden sees ultrahigh resolution particle beam systems installed which use electron and ion beams instead of light. These systems enable the imaging, analysis and processing of specimens down to the level of individual atoms. In this way, they are playing a decisive role in the characterisation of three-dimensional semiconductor structures and in the development of new materials for chip fabrication.
"With its Innovation Centre, Carl Zeiss SMT is becoming involved in Silicon Saxony, one of Europe's leading microelectronics cluster. Not only is the cluster being strengthened in its function as a research location, but the ongoing development of the local semiconductor industry is also being promoted", explains Dr. Dirk Stenkamp, member of the Carl Zeiss SMT Board of Management.
"As a manufacturer of innovative microprocessors, we are faced with the challenge of producing increasingly complex structures with smaller and smaller dimensions and with maximum yield", says Dr. Udo Nothelfer, Vice President AMD Fab 36. "Therefore, process control at an atomic level plays a key role. Through our joint work in the Carl Zeiss Innovation Centre Dresden, we have access to leading edge electron and ion microscopes and believe we can therefore further accelerate the introduction of new technologies. The experience gained in industrial utilisation may be incorporated at an early stage in the development of future analytical systems."
"With the structure dimensions now achieved, current storage cells can only be seen under the electron microscope", says Frank Prein, Managing Director Qimonda Dresden and Senior Vice President Technology Qimonda. "Only through the consistent enhancement of the analytical and measuring methods will it be possible to master the future challenges posed by the development and production of state-of-the-art storage technologies. Through the diversified integration of research partners, Qimonda will use the excellence of the research location for its technology competency centre in Dresden within the framework of the joint ‘Nanoanalysis' project and expand and strengthen its scientific network."
In addition to the co-operation partners AMD and Qimonda, the ‘Carl Zeiss Innovation Centre Dresden' is available to all interested firms and institutes in the Dresden area. In particular, all partners of ‘Silicon Saxony', e.g. the Dresden Technical University or the Fraunhofer Centre Nanoelectronic Technologies CNT, can resolve application problems in the field of nanotechnology which will markedly improve the region's imaging capacity.
