About us

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The Fraunhofer IPMS headquarters in the north of Dresden from above.

In accordance with the overall concept of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS focuses on applied research and development on behalf of industry and society.

Our Vision

Creating solutions for a sustainable world worth living in by being the top research and development provider for photonic and electronic microsystems worldwide.

Our Mission

Driving forward R&D for electronic and photonic microsystems – for the benefit of present and future generations. With our team of highly skilled experts, we deliver top-tier, customized solutions across the entire 200/300 mm micro- and nanoelectronics value chain, driving innovation and sustainability for our customers from lab to fab.

We foster a value-driven and inclusive working environment where our employees can thrive, creating breakthrough innovations and achieving personal and professional growth.

Management of the Institute

© Fraunhofer IPMS
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Harald Schenk

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Harald Schenk

Executive Director

Harald Schenk received his Dr.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering at the Gerhard-Mercator-Universität Duisburg in 2000. Since 2000 he has been managing various groups and business areas at Fraunhofer IPMS focusing on the development of MEMS and their applications. In 2004 Harald Schenk was appointed deputy director of Fraunhofer IPMS. In 2008 he habilitated at Brandenburgische Technische Universität (BTU) Cottbus in physics. In May 2012 he became Professor for »Micro- and Nanosystems« at BTU Cottbus. In September 2013 he was appointed director of Fraunhofer IPMS.

© Fraunhofer IPMS
Prof. Dr. Wenke Weinreich

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wenke Weinreich

Director

Prof. Dr. Wenke Weinreich earned her Diplom degree in Applied Natural Sciences from the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg in 2005. In 2006, she joined the Center for Nanoelectronic Technologies (CNT), where she earned her Ph.D. in the field of new high-k materials for buried-wordline DRAM technologies. She completed her Ph.D. at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. Since 2011, she has served as a senior scientist at Fraunhofer IPMS, where she was responsible for the development of 300-mm wafer technology and new high-k materials. In 2016, she took over as head of the “Energy Devices” group. Since 2019, she has led the “IoT Components & Systems” business unit. Since 2020, she has been the Division Director of the Center for Nanoelectronic Technologies. In 2021, she was appointed Deputy Director of the Fraunhofer IPMS. Since 2022, she has also headed the Center for Advanced CMOS and Heterointegration Saxony. In 2026, she was appointed Institute Director of Fraunhofer IPMS.

Our Profile

Fraunhofer IPMS - Budget overview
Fraunhofer IPMS - Employees overview
Fraunhofer IPMS - Organigram

The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS in Dresden is your access to know-how, expertise and modern R&D infrastructure in the field of optical sensors and actuators, integrated circuits, microsystems (MEMS/MOEMS) and nanoelectronics. 

Fraunhofer IPMS is one of currently 75 institutes and research institutions of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the world’s leading applied research organization. With its focus on developing key technologies that are vital for the future and enabling the commercial exploitation of this work by business and industry, Fraunhofer plays a central role in the innovation process. As a pioneer and catalyst for groundbreaking developments and scientific excellence, Fraunhofer helps shape society now and in the future. The majority of the organization’s 30,000 employees are qualified scientists and engineers, who work with an annual research budget of 2.8 billion euros. Of this sum, 2.3 billion euros is generated through contract research. Around 70 percent of this sum are generated through industrial commissions and publicly financed research projects. The remainder is contributed by the Federal Government and the Länder as basic funding. 

Fraunhofer IPMS is part of the Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics, the Research Fab Microelectronic Germany, and is engaged in various regional and international networks in the filed microsystems and photonics.

In order to meet the challenging demands of our customers, the Fraunhofer IPMS is certified according to the standard DIN EN 9001:2015 for research, development and fabrication of photonic microsystems including semiconductor and microsystem processes as well as integrated actuators and sensor technologies.

 

The Institute has Four Locations:

Our headquarter is located at Maria-Reiche-Straße 2 in Dresden, Germany. With its 1500 m² clean room, it is at your service for all your technology development requirements, as well as for pilot production. Commissioned and online beginning in September 2007, our MEMS and CMOS facility is rated at Class 4 per ISO 14644-1, or Class 10 per U.S. Standard 209E. 

The division »Center Nanoelectronic Technologies« has its own cleanroom infrastructure for process and material development on 300 mm wafers with the branch office "An der Bartlake 5" in the immediate vicinity of the chip producer Globalfoundries. For processing customer orders, 2700 m² of clean room space of class 6 and 3 (according to ISO 14644-1) as well as laboratory space for more than 80 processing and analytical tools are available. The equipment park includes deposition and etching systems as well as inspection and analysis equipment for determining defects and measuring layer properties.

At the Cottbus branch »Integrated Silicon Systems« we work on monolithic integrated actuator and sensor systems as well as on terahertz micro modules and applications.

In the Fraunhofer Center Erfurt we focus on innovative systems for biomedical applications together with the Fraunhofer Institutes IOF and IZI.

Fraunhofer IPMS

Ombudspersons

Good scientific practice.

Fraunhofer IPMS

Diversity Charter

We fully support the Diversity Charter