A second institute director is joining the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM in Berlin: Starting in August 2024, Prof. Ulrike Ganesh will work with Prof. Martin Schneider-Ramelow. The two of them will jointly further develop and shape the microelectronics institute’s strategic alignment.
Fraunhofer IZM develops microelectronics and ensures efficient, robust, and reliable integration into a wide range of different systems, from smartphones to cars and from cardiac pacemakers to industrial plants. To remain competitive and innovative at the global level in this fast-paced environment and meet rising demand from business and industry in the long term, the research unit in Berlin is adding Prof. Ulrike Ganesh as a new institute director as of August 1.
Ganesh, a well-known expert in the field of characterization and fault analysis for advanced semiconductor technologies, brings with her a wealth of experience from her years of work in research and industry. She started her career as a postdoc at IBM in New York. After that, she was responsible for research in the failure analysis department of Qualcomm in San Diego, before gaining additional management experience in chip development for the automotive industry at Robert Bosch GmbH. Ganesh then moved to the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), where her most recent role was leading the Non-Destructive Testing department.
“According to a survey conducted by the European Commission, worldwide demand for microchips will double between now and 2030. Adapted system integration technologies at the wafer, chip, and board level like those developed by the experts at Fraunhofer IZM will thus become increasingly important to Germany as a business location,” said Prof. Holger Hanselka, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. “So there is a lot of work to be done. With this in mind, I’m delighted that Professor Ganesh will be joining the institute management. With her proven experience in initiating complex research projects and balancing the capabilities of the partners involved both profitably and with a focus on goals, she will make a major contribution to further strengthening Fraunhofer IZM together with Professor Schneider-Ramelow and getting the institute ready for our customers’ requirements of tomorrow. I wish her and Fraunhofer IZM great success in the task ahead.”
The new institute director said of starting out at Fraunhofer: “I look forward to working with Professor Schneider-Ramelow and the entire team at Fraunhofer IZM to identify innovative solutions to the big challenges in microelectronics and safeguarding Germany’s competitive position in this key field.” Her co-director, who has been leading the institute for several years now, specializes in high-performance packaging (HPP): materials and technologies to build miniaturized, highly functional and extremely reliable microelectronic systems. His expertise in packaging technology has been instrumental in building the institute’s international reputation.
“Professor Ganesh is an outstanding scientist and leader whose expertise and innovative strength will be a significant gain to our research strategies,” Schneider-Ramelow said. “Her expertise is especially valuable in light of the increasingly stringent requirements for the reliability and performance of microelectronic systems, for example for chiplets, quantum computing, 6G, bioelectronics, and hardware security.” With their complementary expertise in semiconductor technology processes and packaging, the two directors expect to form a synergistic unit, leading the institute into a new era in microelectronics research and overcoming global technological challenges.
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft