Industry Solutions of the ETRC

Autonomous driving, e-mobility, and driver assistance systems require maximum operational reliability under extreme conditions – from arctic cold to the searing temperatures of asphalt roads in southern Europe. The ETRC offers specialized testing procedures and reliability assessments for sensors, control units, and high-performance electronics. It identifies weak points at an early stage through climate chamber testing, shock tests, and vibration-assisted aging simulations. One of the ETRC’s key contributions is its lifetime analyses and thermomechanical test services for power modules for electric drives, which are helping to accelerate the transition to sustainable transportation and energy. 

Implantable sensors and high-precision diagnostic systems demand exceptional reliability and long-term stability from their integrated semiconductor components. The failure of an electronic component used in a system designed for the continuous diagnosis and treatment of diseases can have serious consequences. The ETRC tests medical semiconductor components for functionality, chemical stability, and reliability – including assessments in simulated physiological environments. Non-destructive analytics and simulation make it possible to prevent failures in semiconductor technologies as early as the design stage.

In aircraft and satellites, electronic components must be able to withstand vibration, cold, vacuum, and radiation – often for decades. The ETRC offers accelerated lifetime tests, material analysis, and simulation-based reliability forecasts. For example, it is able to precisely simulate the aging kinetics of soldered joints in high-frequency modules – a significant advantage for certification processes and operational reliability.

For foundries, fabless companies, as well as outsourced semiconductor assembly and test service providers, the ETRC offers a modular testing portfolio covering the entire semiconductor value chain. With services ranging from wafer testing to system-level burn-in and digitally supported quality assessment, the ETRC enables a “right first time” approach. Chiplet architectures and 3D integration benefit in particular from its methods for analyzing connection technologies and early failure mechanisms – a major advantage for companies that lack in-house quality assurance capabilities.

Power electronics based on silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) are driving the transition to sustainable transportation and energy – in electric mobility as well as in photovoltaic inverters and charging infrastructures. The ETRC tests the thermal and electrical robustness of these components under realistic high-current scenarios. Vacuum tests, long-term stress evaluations and AI-supported fault analytics ensure reliable scaling from laboratory prototypes to series production.

High-frequency chips, antenna technologies, and memory solutions are the backbone of the ICT industry. The ETRC offers HF characterization and optical measurement techniques at the wafer, component, and system level, thereby ensuring the efficient assessment of telecommunications, server technology, and networked systems – including AI-supported failure rate predictions.

Mechanical engineering companies and industrial plant manufacturers are under great pressure to innovate. Within its service portfolio, the ETRC offers flexible entry points for small and midsize enterprises that do not have dedicated in-house testing departments – covering everything from electromagnetic near-field analyses to digital twins for maintenance cycles. For example, it tests sensor assemblies for resilience using shock and vibration tests as the basis for predictive maintenance.

Quantum technologies and photonic integrated circuits are regarded as the key technologies of tomorrow – but the testing methods for these technologies are still in their infancy. The ETRC offers specialized measuring stations and valuable expertise for the testing of these technologies, including optical probe stations for silicon photonics (SiPh) components and testing environments for cryogenic quantum systems. Its aim is to industrialize the early validation of new physical platforms.