The Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM has appointed Professor Dr Ulrike Ganesh as its Co-Director. Effective from 1 August 2024, she has joined Professor Martin Schneider-Ramelow in shaping the strategic direction of the institute.
Ulrike Ganesh is a renowned expert in the characterisation and failure analysis for highly advanced semiconductor technology. She is bringing in a wealth of experience from her track record of many years in science and industry, starting in a postdoc role at IBM in New York, followed by a period in charge of failure analysis at Qualcomm in San Diego. Professor Ganesh built on her leadership and management experience at Robert Bosch GmbH, working in chip design for the automotive industry, before moving on to head the „Nondestructive Testing“unit at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing. She considers her ability to initiate complex research projects and combining the different stakeholders’ interests and competences a personal strength. „I am excited about joining Professor Schneider-Ramelow and the entire crew of Fraunhofer IZM in finding innovative solutions to the great challenges in microelectronics and helping secure Germany’s competitive edge in this critical field,“ Ganesh said.
Leading specialist in HPP
Professor Martin Schneider-Ramelow has been at the head of the Institute for several years and is a leading specialist for the materials and technologies needed for so-called High-Performance Packaging (HPP), the means to construct miniaturised, highly versatile, and extremely reliable microelectronic systems. His expert knowledge in interconnection and packaging technology has played a major part in establishing the institute’s reputation on the international stage. „Professor Ulrike Ganesh is an exceptional researcher and a born leader whose knowhow and innovative outlook will be a great asset to our research strategy,“ Schneider-Ramelow says about his new colleague. „Her expertise is invaluable when you see the greater demands placed on the reliability and performance of microelectronic systems for chiplets or for applications like quantum computing, 6G, bioelectronics, or hardware security.“
Synergetic expertise for the future of electronics
With both bringing in unique expertise in semiconductor processing and in packaging and interconnection technology, the leadership duo aims to represent real synergy in action. „Us two working together will allow us to offer comprehensive answers to the complex questions asked in today’s microelectronics research“, Professor Ganesh explains. Professor Schneider-Ramelow adds: „We are coming together to raise a flag for the future of Fraunhofer IZM. We are about to lead the Institute into a new era of microelectronics research and help master the technological challenges of our world.“