Science Award 2012

Joerg Braeuer, researcher at Fraunhofer ENAS, has achieved the Fraunhofer ENAS award for excellent research. The prize was awarded during a ceremony in Chemnitz on December 18, 2012. He was honored for his investigations of reactive bonding by multi nano layer. Joerg Braeuer presented his results to the staff of Fraunhofer ENAS, the Center for Microtechnologies at the Chemnitz University of Technology and the Paderborn University as well as to representatives of industry, science and politics. The award is endowed with 5,000 euros and is given to scientists reached excellent research results on micro electronics and micro system technologies.

Local heating of the joining parts is a very promising method of working at low processing temperatures. This new technology, which uses an internal heat source for joining, is known as "reactive bonding." It is based on the use of reactive multilayer systems, mostly in connection with additional layers. The heat needed for the joining process is generated by a self-propagating chemical reaction within the system. To catalyze the reaction, all that is needed is a single low-energy impulse, such as that produced by a laser. The most important advantage of this technology is that the heat generated is localized to the bonding interface. This ensures that the components are not exposed to high temperatures over a large area. The technology also offers new ways of joining temperature-sensitive materials with different thermal expansion coefficients, such as metals and polymers, without causing thermal damage. The components are joined at room temperature and, if necessary, a hermetically sealed joint can be produced – temperature problems in joining processes have become a thing of the past.