External Technology Development

Fraunhofer IMS has many years of experience in technology development - not only used in our own clean rooms. We also support our customers in the development of customer-specific technologies. This ranges from the characterization of individual components to the extension of our technologies with additional components or options to the development of complete technologies in the customers' production facilities. In addition, technologies developed by Fraunhofer IMS have been transferred to customers' production facilities on several occasions.

The development of CMOS image sensors was always closely connected with the development of specific photodiodes up to complex pixels. The goal has always been to realize these with as little additional process effort as possible and without influencing the basic technology used. The know-how built up here forms the basis for the integration of special photodiodes and pixels in customer technologies. The development is supported by extensive measurement technology for electrical and electro-optical characterization of individual components and test structures up to complete imager chips.

For some components, direct integration into an existing technology is not possible. In this case, technology development must be realized, which usually takes the form of options that can be selected in addition to the basic technology. Examples of this are the extension of technologies to include voltage-resistant components or non-volatile memories. These usually exceed the physical limitations of the basic technologies, so that additional insulation layers and implantations become necessary. Here, it is particularly important to take into account and compensate for the influences on the base technology. Extensive measurement technology is also available here, whereby in the examples mentioned, in addition to electrical characterization, proof of reliability is also of particular importance.