Fraunhofer FHR

The Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR has been the leading institution in Germany in the field of radar for over 60 years and covers the entire value chain, from semiconductor and sensor design to intelligent detection algorithms, new radar methods and radar systems through to their real-time implementation. The institute has been researching radar systems in the THz range for several decades. Fraunhofer FHR concentrates on systems with electronically generated THz waves and is currently working on the development of systems up to 1 THz. In addition to classic application areas, applications from the fields of medical technology or industrial inline measurement technology are becoming increasingly important. Research ranges from the development of new metamaterials to improve the performance of MRIs, the monitoring of vital parameters in clinics, nursing homes and dressing stations and systems for monitoring the near-Earth orbit to the development of industrial sensors. As a result, numerous innovative products have been established in production and plant engineering in recent years, from thickness measurement technology in extruder lines and width measurement technology in hot rolling mills to wind farm monitoring. In projects such as T-KOS, HYPATIA or 6GEM, multifunctional system concepts in the lower THz bands for various applications such as communication, sensor technology and localization, which are realized via a high-frequency module, are gaining in importance.

https://www.fhr.fraunhofer.de/

Fraunhofer IMS

The Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS has been developing sensor systems for over 30 years. It covers a large part of the value chain from CMOS- and MEMS-based sensor technologies to AI-based readout and evaluation of sensor data to customer-specific sensor systems. Wireless readout of sensor systems is a long-standing development topic of the Fraunhofer IMS up to 6G, where increasing the localization accuracy of end devices is currently a goal of 6G technology development. As part of the 6GEM project, Fraunhofer IMS is working on the further development of localization methods that are to be made available for a future “6G new radio” standard. The basis for this are methods that localize passive tags, i.e. miniaturized “end devices” without their own power supply in the millimeter wave and terahertz range. While procedures in the previous standards (5G and below) are in the range of a few decimetres, the desired resolution here is in the millimetre range. In signal processing, signal pre-processing and feature extraction of sensor signals, especially for 3D sensors based on flash LiDAR, Fraunhofer IMS is developing new methods based on machine learning algorithms and the development of application-specific circuits with hardware accelerators based on RISC-V processor cores. One MEMS technology development is uncooled microbolometers, for the production of which the Fraunhofer IMS is currently the only source in Germany. Although the main field of application for the development was thermal imaging sensors in the infrared range, this technology is currently being extended for the detection of THz within the framework of the SFB/TRR196 MARIE. The microbolometers also represent Fraunhofer IMS’s ability to cover the entire range of technological developments through to pilot production with its own CMOS and MEMS clean rooms.

https://www.ims.fraunhofer.de/

Ruhr-University Bochum

The University of Bochum (RUB) is a full university centrally located in the Ruhr area with over 43,000 students and has produced numerous start-ups in recent years, particularly in the engineering sciences, through innovative research.In the field of terahertz.NRW, there has been very successful cooperation within the university for many years, as well as an established network of partners, which is to be further strengthened by terahertz.NRW.On the one hand, the 10 PIs involved in the CRC/TRR196 MARIE have produced internationally groundbreaking results in the field of THz sensor technology since 2017. On the other hand, the newly acquired 6G research hub 6GEM provides an important framework for research into important enabler technologies for sixth-generation mobile communications. This work focuses on important innovations in the areas of THz communication and joint communication and sensing. The systems researched and implemented by the RUB have achieved top results in international comparison in areas such as extremely fast high-power lasers and broadband, low-noise generation of millimeter waves. The research field benefits from the close interaction between the various research groups in (integrated) circuit design, electronic and photonic system realization and high-performance signal processing in sensory and imaging systems. In order to expand and strengthen the terahertz research field, RUB has already made numerous targeted appointments in the past, such as Prof. Clara Saraceno in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, who came to RUB in 2016 with her Sofja Kovalevskaja Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and now holds a W3 professorship. She heads the Chair of Photonics and Ultrafast Laser Science and has successfully acquired an ERC Starting Grant for research into novel THz sources.Prof. Martin Hoffmann was appointed to the Chair of Microsystems Technology and was able to create the technological prerequisites for research into non-electronic silicon-based THz components such as waveguides, lenses, resonators and actuators by successfully acquiring the “Research Laboratory Microelectronics Bochum for 2D Electronics”.The research is complemented by numerous joint projects in the field of terahertz.NRW, funded by the DFG, state, federal government and EU.

https://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/

University of Duisburg-Essen

Founded in 2003, the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), with around 43,000 students and over 500 professors, is one of the youngest and largest universities in Germany and has developed into an internationally recognized research university in recent years. This is documented by the top positions it has now achieved in international rankings.The UDE departments involved in the network application have already been working together for more than five years and can point to numerous joint publications and jointly acquired and processed large-scale third-party funded projects.These include, in particular, the Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 196 MARIE (since 2017, spokesperson: Prof. T. Kaiser, UDE), the Terahertz Integration Centre financed with funds from the NRW.research infrastructures program and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the “6G Research Hub for Open, Efficient and Secure Mobile Communication Systems (6GEM)” recently selected for funding by the BMBF. With several investments from NRW, BMBF and DFG, a comprehensive infrastructure for THz research (semiconductor material, components, modules and measurement technology) has been created at the UDE, which will be used in the present network application.

https://www.uni-due.de/

Bergische Universität Wuppertal

The University of Wuppertal (BUW) was founded in 1972 as a comprehensive university as part of the NRW education initiative and was converted into a pure university in 2003. University education focuses on teacher training courses, economics and a wide range of engineering and science courses with over 23,000 students. BUW conducts top international research in various fields and offers a very diverse research landscape in the individual subjects. BUW contributes to terahertz.NRW through particularly innovative and, in a positive sense, risky research projects. Research at BUW is supported by an interdisciplinary center, Center for Smart Materials & Systems (in brief: CM@S). CM@S builds a bridge from basic materials research to THz technology and sensor technology and has developed into a visible strength of the BUW over the last ten years. The relevant competencies range from graphene-based THz detectors to integrated THz circuit technology and THz near-field sensor technology for biomedical applications. Relevant preliminary work has been done in projects with particular scientific excellence and has been recognized by an ESF EURYI Award, a DFG Reinhart Koselleck project and a highly endowed ERC Advanced Grant. The BUW is involved in the SFB/TRR196 MARIE and coordinates the DFG SPP2314 priority program INTEREST-THz. The BUW has produced internationally pioneering and multiple award-winning results in the field of THz sensor technology, e.g. in intraoperative tumor margin detection in cooperation with a French cancer research center (Institut Bergonié). Over the last 10 years, 28 THz-related projects have been funded at the BUW with a total funding volume of € 13 million by the DFG, the state, the federal government and the EU.

https://www.uni-wuppertal.de/