The Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) of the Technische Universität Dresden is part of the Excellence Initiative of German universities. The cluster of excellence for microelectronics is funded from 2012 to 2017 by the German Research Community (DFG) and unites about 60 Investigators and their teams from 11 institutions to act jointly towards reaching the Cluster's ambitious aims. The coordinator is Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Fettweis, Chair of Mobile Communication Systems. The cluster brings together the teams from two universities and several research institutes in Saxony: Technische Universität Dresden, Technische Universität Chemnitz, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research Dresden e.V. (IPF), Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (IFW), Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS), Nanoelectronics Materials Laboratory gGmbH (NaMLab), Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (Fraunhofer ENAS), Fraunhofer Institute of Ceramic Technologies and Systems (Fraunhofer IKTS) and Kurt Schwabe Institute for Measuring and Sensor Technology Meinsberg e.V. (KSI). About 300 scientists from more than 20 different countries are working in nine research paths to investigate completely new technologies for electronic information processing which overcome the limits of today's predominant CMOS technology.
Position and institutional building
One of the scientific buildings, as well as the organizational headquarters, of the cfaed is situated in Dresden-Plauen, Würzburger Straße 46. In May 2015, construction works for the new cfaed building commenced at the campus of TU Dresden. The building is due for completion in late 2017 and it will host new laboratories, seminar rooms, and offices.
History
The initial proposal for cfaed as a Cluster of Excellence was submitted to the DFG in August 2011. On July 15, 2012, the Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) achieved the status Cluster of Excellence in the second funding round of the German government's Excellence Initiative. During the five-year funding period, which started in November 2012, the cluster receives approximately €34 million of subsidies. The first funding phase will run until October 2017.
On April 3 cfaed submitted one of eight draft proposals for "TUD Clusters of Excellence" new funding line. On 28 September 2017, TUD will know how many of its draft proposals will be invited to be submitted as full applications. A year later, on 27 September 2018, it will be announced which Clusters of Excellence were successful. These will then be funded, for an initial period of seven years, from 2019 onwards. If at least two TUD-Clusters of Excellence are selected, TUD shall be eligible to apply for the second funding line “University of Excellence”, for which the submission of applications is scheduled for mid-December 2018.
Research focus and program
The new technologies for electronic information processing are inspired by innovative materials such as silicon nanowires, carbon nanotubes or polymers or based on completely new conceptions such as the chemical chip or circuit fabrication methods by self-assembling structures e.g. DNA-Origami. The orchestration of these new devices into heterogeneous information processing systems with focus on their resilience and energy-efficiency is also part of cfaed's research program. Furthermore, biological communication systems are analyzed with the aim to use inspirations of the nature for technical challenges. The research is structurally supported and fostered by strong leadership, three Strategic Professors, one open-topic professor, a dedicated building, the status as Central Scientific Institution, and integration into the DRESDEN-Concept.
Currently, a team of cfaed scientists is involved in developing the ‘Fifth Generation’ of mobile communications. By extremely low latency, massive security and resilience of data transmission, completely new applications might become possible. Examples are cooperative traffic coordination systems, robotic-aided tele-surgery or innovative e-learning methods.