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You can´t make an omelet without breaking eggs – according to the saying, almost every manufacturing or processing company and institution is aware of the relevance of cleaning and the strong influence of contamination in process chains. In the world of the Fraunhofer Institutes, too, the question of cleaning processes and associated competences arose in the 2000s. This was soon followed by the birth of the Fraunhofer Cleaning Alliance. This group is now celebrating its 20th anniversary. Up to now, a wide variety of Fraunhofer institutes and facilities have been developing cleaning processes for a broad range of industrial challenges, using innovative technologies. At parts2clean 2023 in Stuttgart, Germany, at the Fraunhofer joint booth no. D28, in hall 10 and during the expert forum will be present the newest cleaning technologies and services.

Within the project "Backplane", funded by the Saxon State Ministry of Economics, Labor and Transport SMWA (grant number: 100392259), a multicolor OLED microdisplay was realized by scientists of the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP. With the Saxon project partner digades GmbH, a finished optics module should be brought to market in the future.

The processing of ultra-thin glass requires specialized handling to avoid glass breakage during production. Until now, this has been a major obstacle for the entry of this innovative material into new applications. Therefore, a unique process chain for ultra-thin glass processing has been implemented at Fraunhofer FEP: starting with adapted cleaning processes up to the final inspection. The results have been funded within the project CUSTOM (grant no. AiF 21708 BR) by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection BMWK and the project Glass4Flex (grant no. 13N14615) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF. Particular attention was paid to the evaluation of the influence of process parameters on the strength and reliability of the coated glass. The process chain and results of the projects will be presented at the V2023 conference, September 18 – 21, 2023, in Dresden.

New technologies such as augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing are rapidly opening up opportunities for entirely new business models and the future of work in industry. However, internet-based services also bring additional challenges in terms of data security and user acceptance. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding various interdisciplinary projects. At the closing conference, the joint project "secureAR" won the Technology Award with its open, cloud-based service platform and a new AR assistance system equipped with OLED microdisplays from Fraunhofer FEP.

New European Sustainable Nanotechnology solutions Association transforms innovative ideas into pioneering products!

OLED microdisplays have so far been developed predominantly on 200mm wafers. These conventional CMOS technologies and the associated backplane design have limited the number and size of pixels until now. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, OLED microdisplays have been realized for the first time in a 28-nanometer backplane technology on 300mm wafers within the "Backplane" project funded by the Saxon State Ministry of Economics, Labor and Transport (SMWA). Components with a display diagonal of 0.18 inches and pixel sizes of only 2.5 micrometers have been manufactured. This corresponds to a pixel density of 10,000 dpi – an as-yet unattained level in the global OLED microdisplay market. These unique OLED microdisplays will be presented for the first time at SID Display Week, May 23–25, 2023, at the German Joint Booth, No. 1110, in Los Angeles, USA.

In cooperation with SURAGUS GmbH, the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP has succeeded in realizing non-contact in-situ measurements under high vacuum conditions at temperatures of up to 220°C within the HotSense project (grant number 100547507/4102) funded by the Saxon State Ministry of Economics, Labor and Transport (SMWA). Thus, measurements of the sheet resistance or -conductivity, or the metal layer thickness can be carried out in close proximity to the process directly after hot layer deposition or layer modification processes by means of non-contact high-frequency eddy current measurement. Furthermore, the developed setup can be adopted for process characterization up to 450 to 600 degrees Celsius. The results will be presented in a poster at SVC Techcon, May 8 – 11, 2023, in Washington D.C, USA.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP is intensively working on low-energy electron beam processes in aqueous biosystems in the field of medical and biotechnological applications. The scientists have shown that low-energy accelerated electrons can both inactivate and stimulate microorganisms aqueous environments in a dose-dependent manner. The dose is an important process variable and a measure of the effects caused by accelerated electrons in the liquid, which is quantified by dosimeters. The Fraunhofer FEP is developing radiochromic liquid dosimeters for different dose ranges in order to be able to determine the absorbed dose in a liquid during electron beam processes for biotechnological fields of applications. These will be presented at Medtec LIVE with T4M, May 23-25, 2023, in Nuremberg, at the Fraunhofer FEP booth, no. 1-558.

Lightweight, switchable and smart glass technologies can significantly improve the energy management of buildings with large-area windows and glass facades and contribute significantly to reducing energy consumption for heating or cooling. Improving the availability and cost efficiency of such smart glasses and the corresponding manufacturing processes is the declared goal of the EU-funded Switch2Save joint project. The project partners are now on the finish line and have installed the first electrochromic insulating glass units to demonstrate and test the potential energy savings in a Swedish office building. These and other smart solutions for windows and building facades will be presented at the BAU trade fair, April 17-22, 2022, in Munich/Germany, at the Fraunhofer joint booth 528 in hall C2.

The electronics industry is one of the most innovative. That is why the readers of the journal Elektronik and the online platform elektroniknet.de had no less than 111 innovative products to choose from, from which they could select the finalists in ten categories as their favorites. The researchers at Fraunhofer FEP were pleased to be among the finalists. In the category "Optoelectronics and Displays", the new ultra-low power OLED microdisplay entered the race and won first place.