📋 Tender Overview
The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Tourism of Baden-Württemberg is supporting the further development of the research infrastructure of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics (IAF) in Freiburg with 4.35 million euros. The funds come from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) .
" The funding will enable the expansion of Fraunhofer IAF's research capacities in the field of heterogeneous integration and chiplet technologies, which form the basis for powerful and energy-efficient high-frequency applications. The planned measures will help to increase semiconductor manufacturing capacities in Europe and thus strengthen the competitiveness and technological resilience of Europe and the country in the semiconductor industry," said Dr. Patrick Rapp , State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Tourism, on the occasion of the presentation of the symbolic funding check.
The project is embedded in the European project to set up a pilot line for "Advanced Packaging and Heterogeneous Integration for Electronic Components and Systems" (APECS), which the Fraunhofer Society is coordinating and implementing through its Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD) as part of the Chips Act of the European Union (EU) . In addition to Germany, other EU member states are involved in the pilot line. In order to set up the chiplet pilot line for high-frequency applications, the Fraunhofer IAF is expanding its technological capabilities in the field of III-V compound semiconductors. The pilot line will provide low-threshold access for large industrial companies as well as small and medium-sized companies and start-ups , thereby ensuring secure, resilient semiconductor value chains.
key technology for European industry
The APECS pilot line is funded by the European partnership Chips Joint Undertaking and eight member states. Two thirds of the German funding comes from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and one third from the states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein. The partners involved are investing a total of over 700 million euros in the German Microelectronics Research Factory. The new pilot line "Advanced Packaging for Electronic Components and Systems" will significantly advance technological development in microelectronics.
ERDF funding in Baden-Württemberg
In order to provide regional structural support, Baden-Württemberg will receive around 279 million euros from the European Union from the ERDF in the funding period 2021 to 2027. The pilot line is part of a package of measures within the framework of the "Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform" (STEP) , which was launched by the EU at the beginning of March 2024. STEP aims to support critical and emerging strategic technologies in order to strengthen the EU's competitiveness, security and sovereignty and to reduce dependencies in strategic technology areas. These include digital technologies and technology-intensive innovations (deep tech), environmentally friendly and resource-efficient technologies and biotechnologies. The Baden-Württemberg ERDF program is aligned with the Baden-Württemberg innovation strategy and supports the key areas of future technologies and skills as well as resource and climate protection.
