From Research to Application: Projects at Fraunhofer EMFT

Microrelative movements can lead to crack formation and crack growth in press-fit connections. Together with the Institute of Materials Engineering and the Institute of Drive and Vehicle Technology, both at the University of Kassel, Fraunhofer EMFT researchers are working on a suitable accelerating model to better understand how these undesirable effects occur.

In the CFP project, Fraunhofer EMFT, Fraunhofer IZM, and Yamagata University are developing novel chip foil packages for flexible electronics. Together, they are working on materials, interconnection technologies, and an end-to-end process chain to reliably integrate electronic functions into soft, curved, or flexible surfaces. The goal is to create chip foil packages less than 150 micrometers thick that can be manufactured efficiently and sustainably in high volumes and used in medicine, industry, mobility, and other fields of application.

Press-fit technology provides an innovative connection method which, due to its high reliability and robustness, is particularly suitable for safety-relevant connection points. Another advantage is that the method is much more eco-friendly than the soldering technique most commonly used to date. A Fraunhofer EMFT research team is working on a predictive model that relates easily accessible material/process data to the reliability of press-fit contacts.

Whether in automobiles – especially in the context of autonomous driving – or future industrial manufacturing: plugs and electrical connection technologies have a key role to play in digital networking. They are the main interface between machines, control units and data processing systems and so they provide the basis for the functionality, simple handling and reliability of automation technology.

With the Soldering Mobile, the Center for Interconnection Technology in Electronics ZVE at Fraunhofer EMFT is now offering its customers an attractive alternative to onsite training courses at the Oberpfaffenhofen training center. The soldering station on wheels can be put into operation directly at the customer's premises using plug & play.

In the PCB direct contacting research project (T-1753), Fraunhofer EMFT investigated PCB direct contacting systems for highly reliable mechatronic and drive technology applications. The aim was to evaluate commercially available systems in terms of technical performance, reliability and economic suitability under realistic environmental and stress conditions.

In areas where personal or security-critical data is processed in particular – such as medical technology, autonomous driving and critical infrastructures – trustworthy electronic ICT compo-nents and systems are becoming increasingly important as digitalization gathers pace. esearchers at Fraunhofer EMFT primarily focus on the hardware level here.

Every year, over 3 million immobile people worldwide suffer from severe, mostly preventable pressure ulcers, with around 0.6 million in Germany. Pressure ulcers not only cause personal suffering but are also time-consuming and costly to treat. Current prophylaxis methods require significant commitment from nursing staff and do not provide continuous security. Therefore, there is an urgent need for individual and continuous monitoring for effective pressure ulcer prophylaxis. Sorala (formerly SoreAlert), a potential spin-off from Fraunhofer EMFT, addresses this need with a smart patch that allows for automated monitoring of at-risk body areas and provides early warnings for pressure ulcers.

Edge computing is considered a key for new IoT applications. In order to bring artificial intelligence into future edge products, Fraunhofer EMFT researchers are working together with Fraunhofer IIS and Fraunhofer IPMS as part of the EU ANDANTE project to develop innovative mixed-signal artificial neural network (ANN) accelerator with computation-in-memory (CIM) ability. These are intended to enable the construction of solid hardware and software platforms for AI application development.

Nature sets a high bar: Our brain is capable of processing and storing huge amounts of information without using more energy than a 20-watt light bulb. This is a good reason for researchers worldwide to take the human brain as a model for circuits in so-called neuromorphic chips. Within the EU project NeurONN, a Fraunhofer EMFT research team is working with six European partners on extremely energy-efficient elements and architectures for neuromorphic computing. Innovative 2D materials are also being used in the process.