In recent years, the Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP has expanded its campus in Dresden by adding several buildings and areas. In addition to a technical center for nanotechnologies and precision coating, the final construction phase of the Fraunhofer Research Center for Resource-Efficient Energy Technologies (RESET) has now been completed.
Electron beam competence and technology center
RESET is to become a globally unique electron beam competence and technology center. In addition to the competence center for thermal electron beam technologies in RESET and the research of the Fraunhofer FEP in the field of electron beam applications, further areas of work are to be created. The now completed building houses facilities for the development of non-thermal electron beam technologies for medical, biotechnology, environmental and energy applications. These create the basis for the sterilization and hygienization of medical products, efficient plasma-chemical synthesis processes and the chemical-free treatment of seeds.
Research into thin-film plasma technology
A clean room was also created for research into process technologies for sputter epitaxy. A Fraunhofer FEP research group is dedicated to the development of magnetrons and process technologies for depositing thin films (e.g. gallium nitride (GaN) films) on 200 mm silicon wafers and obtaining epitaxial layers. The resulting GaN semiconductors with high-precision layers are to be used in power electronics or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the future.