from February 26 to March 1, 2007 in Chicago/USA

Stand 1218

Fraunhofer IPMS carries out customer specific developments in the field of microelectronic and microsystem technology in Dresden. The aim is to act as a business partner in helping to transfer innovative ideas into new products. The Fraunhofer IPMS is prepared for serial production of modern CMOS compatible MEMS technology products in its own clean room facilities. About 180 scientists work with modern equipment to provide customer specific solutions in the field of circuit design, sensors and sensor systems, micromechanical actuators and actuator systems, lightmodulating microsystems, image processing and image transmission and organic electronics. At the PittCon 2007 in Chicago, Fraunhofer IPMS will present:

1. Customer-specific system development based on MOEMS spectrometers

Fraunhofer IPMS has developed two compact spectrometers based on its own micro opto electro mechanical system (MOEMS) technology. One is a Czerny-Turner spectrometer called SGS1900, now commercially available via the Fraunhofer IPMS spin-off HiperScan, the other a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer currently in prototype stage. Because both solutions use innovative MOEMS devices for scanning gratings resp. translational mirrors small robust systems working in a range from 200 nm to 5 µm at costs significantly below the price of conventional spectrometers could be realized. At PITTCON 2007, Fraunhofer IPMS will present the spectrometers themselves as well as demonstrate its capability to develop full featured, customer specific solutions that use the spectrometers as major component. One possible application is quality control of perishable food, which can be fruits and vegetables as well as every kind of meat or milk product by reflectance or fluorescence spectroscopy.

2. By launching the NIR-spectrometer SGS1900 HiperScan cuts price in half – Microsystems make it possible

HiperScan GmbH, the company for high performance scanning technologies, will launch the SGS1900 NIR-spectrometer at the occasion of the Pittcon Exposition for Applied Spectroscopy. The new Scanning Grating technology is the key to low cost spectrometers that provide the expected resolution of better 10 nm, but cost only half the price of conventional devices with diode array. Over the last 20 years spectrometry has evolved to the fastest and most versatile methods for material analysis in numerous industries (chemicals, pharmaceuticals, petro, food, beverage, timber and many more). Optical spectrometry in the near infrared range (NIR) is most broadly used, because all kinds of substances can be detected and equipment is at least affordable. However, for many applications the investment into the equipment is still considered too expensive. HiperScan has now started to lower this limitation by licensing the scanning grating technology of Fraunhofer IPMS and the system design of CTR AG, Austria, and bringing spectrometers into the market. »Conventional grating-spectrometers for the NIR suffer form the prices of the detector arrays.« said Dr. Werner Scherf, CEO of CTR AG. »We scan the entire spectrum over a single detector by means of a rotating silicon plate with diffractive grating, the so-called Scanning Grating of Fraunhofer IPMS.« »And the Scanning Grating is indeed an innovative variant of what has become an established technology to us« added Prof. Dr. Hubert Lakner, director of Fraunhofer IPMS. »We design our Microsystems for manufacture, test and for the environmental conditions of the application. Reliability and accuracy are number one priorities to our customers. Of course at an attractive price.« »Stable devices are the key to the spectrometry market.« said Dr. Alexander Wolter, CEO of HiperScan. »Measurement results must be 100% reliable. Devices must be easy to use and robust. We deliver the full performance that our customers expect at half the price«. The SGS1900 for the range from 1200-1900 nm with <10 nm resolution is just the first product of the SGS-series. The SGS2500 ranging to 2500 nm will be announced in the second quarter of this year. And early in 2008 the range 2500 - 4000 nm in the mid infrared will be addressed. All devices have compact size, robust design and sufficient processor power to incorporate custom-specific analysis software. At the Pittcon HiperScan will showcase the SGS1900 and prototypes of the future devices at the booth of Fraunhofer IPMS.

Further information is available:

HiperScan offers components, modules and systems based on their core competency of light scanning microsystems. Emphasis is on OEM-products and the business field of spectrometry.

CTR offers custom system development in the fields of sensing, optics, electronics, microsystem applications, construction and production equipment for process control.