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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.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are indispensable key components for electro mobility and the success of the energy transition. They offer high energy density and high cycle stability. Eight partners from industry and science are developing technologies and components in the funded project "revoLect" (funding reference: 03ETE041) in order to be able to produce resource-saving and more efficient LIBs. The project is pursuing two key innovations: the replacement of the usual metal foils with a metallized fabric structure and the use of silicon as anode material.

Controlling light and heat radiation through windows and glass facades at the push of a button, saving energy and still maintaining a clear view? Switchable electrochromic films that turn dark but remain transparent are expected to make this possible in the future. The fact that this can also be retrofitted in existing buildings is to be demonstrated by the joint project "EnOB: FLEX-G 4.0 - Technologies for innovative switchable films as a retrofit solution for energy-saving windows and glass facades" (funding reference: 03EN1048), which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action BMWK. Coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, the project will work with six other partners to advance the state of the art to the prototype stage over the next four years. In doing so, the project aims to kill two birds with one stone - on the one hand, the windows of a Dresden school are to be retrofitted, and on the other, the pupils are to be actively involved in the technology development as a contribution to promoting career orientation.

OLED microdisplays researched and developed at the Dresden Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP have already been offered for several years as evaluation kits for potential exploitation partners. In addition to the design of application- and customer-specific microdisplay chips made possible by means of integrated circuit design, the industry-compatible, standardized manufacturing process technology development up to testing and characterization methods plays an important role. For the latter, a 64-device microdisplay test unit for characterization upon delivery or/and receipt of goods by customers will now be presented for the first time at embedded world 2023, at the Fraunhofer joint booth (Hall 4, No. 422).

Cleaning glass facades and solar installations is expensive and time-consuming. Dirt reduces the yield of solar modules. Reasons enough to research surfaces that minimize this effort. The Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP has now succeeded within the European Union-funded NewSkin project (GA: 862100) in applying crystalline titanium oxide to ultra-thin glass using a roll-to-roll process, thus achieving hydrophobic surfaces that become superhydrophilic under UV light. Initial results of this showcase of some of the NewSkin open access upscaling facilities will be presented at the Fraunhofer joint booth, No. C2-528, during BAU 2023, April 17 – 22, in Munich, Germany.

Miniaturized optoelectronic systems with emitter and/or sensor functions on a single chip can be realized with OLED-on-silicon technology. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP have now used this technology, which has reached industrial maturity in OLED microdisplays so far, to develop an advanced organic-on-silicon photonics platform that can enable new generations of microdisplays and image sensors. The latest research results will be presented and actual demonstrators will be showcased at Photonics West 2023, January 31 – February 2, 2023, in San Francisco, USA.

After two years of development, the European Commission-funded project INNO4COV-19 (FKZ 101016203), which supported the commercialization of new products to combat COVID-19 in Europe, has come to an end. The Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP developed, among other things, a prototype of a portable thermal camera system with integrated, low-power microdisplays for early and contactless detection of infected persons. This system will be presented at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, USA, January 5-8, 2023, at the Fraunhofer FEP booth, No. 55823, German Pavilion, in the Venetian Expo Center.

Within the project “BIOSYNTH- Modular High-throughput Micro-Platform for Future Mass Data Storage from Synthetic Biology”, funded by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in an internal program, an innovative microchip platform for efficient cell-free and digitally controllable biosynthesis will be developed. The Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP is the consortium leader and will work together with the Fraunhofer Institutes for Photonic Microsystems IPMS, for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM, for Cell Therapy and Immunology, Bioanalytics and Bioprocesses IZI-BB on the fundamentals for the mass data storage devices of the future with extremely high storage density.

Within the project secureAR (funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research), a cross-industry and open cloud-based service platform with open industry interfaces is being developed. Within secureAR, the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP is researching a novel hardware platform that is used in an innovative AR assistance system for the location- and situation-specific provision and visualization of data in different industrial scenarios. This hardware platform will be presented at electronica 2022, from November 15 to 18, 2022, in Munich/Germany, at the Fraunhofer joint booth B4.258, in Hall B4.

Electron beam technology can be used to reliably treat and functionalize surfaces. Now the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP has succeeded in producing anti-adhesive coatings on plastic film by applying low-energy-accelerated electrons without the use of additional chemical crosslinkers. The institute will present this topic at BIOEurope 2022, from 24 to 26 October 2022, in Leipzig, at Bio-Saxony booth No. 100, among others.

Within the InnoVET project “CLOU – Future Cluster for Innovative Vocational Training” (FKZ 21IV007D) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), an adaptive and path-opening initial and continuing education in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry is being developed which at the same time makes technical innovations accessible to vocational education and training. The training course “Certified Professional Specialist (m/f/d) for Industrial Parts Cleaning” developed in this project was modularly designed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP together with the Sächsische Bildungsgesellschaft SBG and started its test phase in September. At parts2clean 2022 from 11 to 13 October 2022 in Stuttgart, Germany, the contact persons for this training will answer questions from all interested parties at the booth of the Fraunhofer Business Area Cleaning; Hall 4, Booth B20.

Glass facades characterize modern architecture. While solar radiation serves to support heating in winter, the building interior heats up in summer and requires active cooling. Smart windows can regulate the solar radiation according to the weather situation – a forward-looking solution in times of energy saving. Fraunhofer FEP has now succeeded in producing the world's first thermochromic layer on ultra-thin glass in a roll-to-roll process. These results will make mechanical blinds superfluous in the future and at the same time reduce the cooling and heating energy requirements of a building.

As part of the project "BioIntElekt" (Development of an innovative small-scale, low-energy electron beam source integrated in a bioreactor system, funding reference: 601015) funded by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in an internal program, metals should be mobilized with the help of bacteria. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, a new process for enhanced microbial ore leaching (bioleaching) is under development and initial successes were achieved. The institute will present the process principle at ACHEMA 2022, August 22–26, 2022, in Frankfurt/Main, Germany at the Fraunhofer joint booth no. A52 in hall 6.0.

The partners of the EU project FlexFunction2Sustain have committed themselves to create a network for innovative solutions for sustainable and smart products powered by nano-functionalized paper and plastic in order to support SMEs, start-ups and industries in the development and market launch of pioneering products. After the first two years, a number of promising results and prototypes have emerged and will be presented at the Conference for Industrial Technologies IndTech 2022 in Grenoble, France, June 27–29, 2022. Among them, a recently finalized highlight: the first working organic photovoltaic cell on recycled plastics.

In addition to an energy-saving design, microdisplays for wearables must also display information in a way that they are sufficiently bright under daylight conditions, at best in colored versions and recognizable with the naked eye. The OLED microdisplay family of the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP has now been extended: Microdisplays in a new design for ultra-high brightness. The new versions will be presented for the first time at the SID Display Week, May 10 - 12, 2022, in San José, USA, booth 1320 (German Pavilion).

The development of resource-efficient manufacturing processes for next-generation battery anodes was the aim of the joint project „nextBatt“ funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, funding reference: L1FHG42421). At the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, new material combinations and efficient production technologies have been realized for this purpose. The Institute will present recent results at SVC TechCon 2022, May 3 – 5 2022, in Long Beach/USA, at booth No. 436.

Within the joint project LAOLA (funding code: 03INT509AF), which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and has now been completed, large-area lighting applications with organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) on flexible substrates should be developed. The project focused on ultra-thin glass, which offers advantages compared to plastic as a substrate due to its excellent barrier properties. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, the OLEDs were applied to the flexible glass using a roll-to-roll process. A surgical light designed using this process will be presented at LOPEC 2022, on March 23 and 24, 2022, in Munich, at the joint booth of the project coordinator Organic Electronics Saxony e.V. (OES), No. B0.308.