ForLab DiFeMiS: Digital Manufacturing of THz Microelectronic Systems

For integrated microwave circuits with operating frequencies over 100 GHz up to the Terahertz range it is a major difficulty to transfer RF signals from the chip tot he periphery such as antennae. Efficient solutions require very expensive masks, making them only profitable for large-scale production. ForLab aims at providing cost-saving high-performance and ultra customizable RF interconnects for small and medium batch series as well as for prototypes. Thus, development and production of industry 4.0 and robotics sensors as well as communication technologies will be strongly facilitated.

In ForLab, research on printed RF circuitry for mask-free production is done. Therefor a research lab Digital Manufacturing of THz Microelectronic Systems is being set up. This includes facilities for highly customizable, mask-free, additive manufacturing and structuring as well as measurement instruments up to 500 GHz.

The project is made possible by a BMBF funding of € 3,7M, which provides for the necessary highly precise manufacturing machinery and measurement equipment. The working title is “Forschungslabor Mikroelektronik Karlsruhe für Fertigungstechnologien der Hochfrequenzysteme” and it runs under the acronym DiFeMiS. The Project is a collaboration between the Institute of Radio Frequency Engineering and Electronics (IHE), Light Technology Institute (LTI) and the Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics (IPQ) involving four professors and enabling a multitude of research projects for many scientific employees.