Microelectronics Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen

Microelectronics research at UDE focuses on terahertz and millimeter-wave devices and modules for applications in communications, high-resolution radar sensing, material identification, as well as medical and biological imaging. Innovative semiconductor devices based on indium phosphide (InP) and gallium nitride (GaN) are fabricated in-house and investigated in a wide range of application scenarios. This includes expertise in heterostructure synthesis using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), device physics, MMIC design and chip fabrication, as well as packaging and module technology for frequencies in the terahertz range (300–3000 GHz). As a result, THz transmitters and receivers with record data rates, highly efficient and compact THz sensor heads, and broadband transistor circuits are being developed—also in cooperation with foundry partners within the Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD), through a joint lab with FBH, Berlin, and in collaboration with Fraunhofer IMS, Duisburg. Applications of terahertz and millimeter-wave technologies in sensing and communications are pursued at UDE within several funded networks and consortia, including DFG SFB/TRR 196 MARIE, BMBF 6G-HUB 6GEM, and EU MSCA ITN Teraoptics.

Infrastructure	Environment
Center for Semiconductor Technology and Optoelectronics (ZHO), cleanroom (450 m²) with a complete technology chain (materials, chip processing, packaging and module technology), ForLab SmartBeam. Epitaxy of InP and GaN, electron-beam lithography with 10 nm resolution, plasma etching, plasma CVD, ALD, metallization, optical lithography, flip-chip, wire bonding, fiber alignment. Field-emission SEM, HR-XRD, AFM, confocal microscope, Hall measurements, photoluminescence. Software for physical device modeling, electronic and photonic circuit design. Free-space (robotic) S-parameter measurements and wafer probing up to 1.5 THz, spectrum analysis up to 750 GHz, low-level DC, TDS THz. Prof. Dr. Nils Weimann Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Stöhr Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Kaiser	Chair of High-Frequency Electronic Devices (BHE) THz devices, circuits, and modules InP heterostructure bipolar transistors (HBTs) and resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) for THz applications GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) for sensing and power switching Epitaxy and nanostructuring Joint Lab “InP Devices” with the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Berlin Chair of Optoelectronics (OE) THz photonics and THz communications InP photodiodes Innovative photonic integration using ALD and ICPECVD Broadband THz links Chair of Digital Signal Processing (DSV) THz channel measurements and modeling THz signal processing for localization, material characterization, identification, communications, and imaging THz measurement laboratory Projects & Networks SFB/TRR 196 MARIE EU MSCA ITN Teraoptics EU KDT JU RIA Move2THz (website under construction) BMBF 6G-HUB 6GEM NRW research network terahertz.nrw
Education	Other
Core courses Solid-state electronics Electronic devices Master’s courses RF and THz semiconductor technologies Nanoelectronics Electronic circuits Optoelectronics Communications engineering Signal processing Wireless systems	DFG Core Facility ICAN for Materials Analytics UDE NanoSchoolLab and UDE QuantumSchoolLab (funded by REACT-EU-zdi)