The three-year research project “eRamp”, intended to strengthen and expand Germany and Europe as centers of expertise for the manufacture of power electronics, launched at Infineon Technologies in Dresden.

Twenty-six research partners from six countries are participating. Infineon, a global market leader in power semiconductors, is leading the €55-million (US$75.7-million) project.Power electronics—the electronic components and their power semiconductors—help keep the loss of electrical energy as low as possible and help minimize power consumption in a wide variety of applications, including hybrid and electric drive systems. eRamp research activities will focus on the rapid introduction of new production technologies and further exploration of chip packaging technologies for power semiconductors.

The German project partners will investigate and develop new methods for speeding up the start of the production run.

In order to investigate research results for practical viability exactly where the new production technologies will be implemented, the German research partners will use existing pilot lines and comprehensive production expertise at various German sites, including:

• Dresden (Infineon: power semiconductors based on 300mm wafers);
• Reutlingen (Bosch: power semiconductors, smart power and sensors based on 200mm wafers); and
• Regensburg (Infineon: chip packaging technologies for power semiconductors).

Infineon, Osram and Siemens will work together closely to research and construct testing equipment and demonstrators for the evaluation of newly developed chip embedding technologies.

In Germany, the Technical University of Dresden and West Saxon University of Applied Sciences Zwickau are also participating in research. In addition to Bosch, Infineon, Osram and Siemens, German business is represented by the companies SYSTEMA Dresden, an IT specialist vendor for automation in the manufacturing industry, HSEB Dresden, provider of optical inspection, review and installation, and SGS INSTITUT FRESENIUS, a leading vendor of chemical and physical laboratory analysis.

The research partners in the eRamp project are (in alphabetical order): AMS AG (Unterpremstatten, Austria); CISC Semiconductor GmbH (Klagenfurt, Austria); HSEB Dresden GmbH (Dresden, Germany); Infineon Technologies (Germany: Dresden, Regensburg, Munich; Villach, Austria and Bucharest, Romania); JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft GmbH (Graz, Austria); Lantiq (Villach, Austria); Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH (Leoben, Austria); NXP Semiconductors (Gratkorn, Austria and Eindhoven, Netherlands); Osram GmbH (Munich); Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH (Leoben, Austria); Robert Bosch GmbH (Stuttgart, Germany); SGS INSTITUT FRESENIUS (Taunusstein, Germany); Siemens AG (Berlin, Munich); SPTS Technologies Ltd (Newport, UK); Stichting IMEC Nederland (Eindhoven, Netherlands); SYSTEMA Systementwicklung Dipl.-Inf. Manfred Austen GmbH (Dresden); Slovak University of Technology (Bratislava, Slovakia); Technical University Vienna and University of Innsbruck (both in Austria); as well as Technical University Dresden and the West Saxon University of Applied Sciences, Zwickau (Germany).

The Project eRamp is co-funded by grants from ENIAC Joint Undertaking and from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia und the UK.