Researchers at the PGI-7 are driving forward the development of ground-breaking 3D electronics

Forschungszentrum Jülich is playing a major role in one of the seven new Collaborative Research Centres funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). From 1 April, four group leaders from PGI-7 (Regina Dittmann, Susanne Hoffmann-Eifert, Stephan Menzel, Ilia Valov) will be working on the development of components for future three-dimensional computer architectures in four subprojects of the SFB Transregio TRR 404 "Next Generation Electronics with Active Devices in Three Dimensions" (Active-3D) at TU Dresden and RWTH Aachen University.

The main components of integrated circuits on chips are individual transistors, which have become smaller and more powerful over time. This scalability has led to lower costs and is the main reason why integrated circuits are used in almost all products in our society. In recent years, however, the actual size of a transistor has not decreased significantly and chip technology seems to have reached its performance limit. The CRC/Transregio "Future-oriented electronics through active components in three dimensions" aims to use the volume above the chip surface with innovative, active components. The aim is to develop genuine 3D systems that can further increase the performance and processing speed of chips. (Speaker: Prof Thomas Mikolajick, TU Dresden; Co-speaker: Prof Max Lemme, RWTH Aachen)