In the beginning of 2014, the cooperation within numerous publicly funded projects between OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH (today: ams-OSRAM International GmbH) and the Institute of Semiconductor Technology at TU Braunschweig University of Technology has been raised onto a new level of collaboration by completing the plans for the implementation of the epitaxy competence center ec².
Projected as a ‘Gallium Nitride Research Center’, the ec² provides its interested partners an excellent science platform for GaN-materials and -devices which meets with the industrial standard of technology.
Besides an evolution in terms of production (metal organic vapour phase epitaxy, MOVPE), also the infrastructure for nano-analysis and processing will be systematically developed within the ec².
The ec² aims to build a bridge between the fundamental research at universities on the one hand as well as the product-orientated research and development in industrial enterprises on the other hand. In collaboration with the Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, TU Braunschweig University of Technology and OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH (today: ams-OSRAM International GmbH), the ec² center could now be launched.
The extraordinary overall importance of GaN technology is based on the vast range of applications within the field of optoelectronics, LED and Laser technology, but also on power electronics and sensors. All named technologies widely influence fields like automotive, mechanical or medical engineering, which are traditional strongholds in German industry. Therefore, GaN-technology should emerge as an important mainstay in Germany and here the ec² is meant to become a significant factor.
Not at least, the ec² is open to welcome Young Potentials who are interested in working in an industrial-related field at a renowned German university.