Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILTOur range of services
Plasma technology is nowadays established in many industrial sectors. Fraunhofer ILT is researching and using it to provide intensive sources of short-wave radiation in the extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray range, to build compact UV radiation sources for metrology and to develop systems for sorting metal scrap on the basis of plasma spectroscopy. Moreover, the institute is developing plasma technology to purify waste water and exhaust gases in environmental technology.
Dense, hot plasmas are of interest, for example, as light sources with wavelengths in the EUV range (extreme ultraviolet). In such sources the plasma is generated by a pulsed discharge of electrically stored energy. The focus of research here is, among other things, on discharge concepts in which plasmas can be generated with a repetition rate in the range of several kilohertz at higher average radiant power and with long-term stability.
Radiation plasmas in the spectral range of the EUV can be used in microscopy or structuring on the nanometer scale, such as mask inspection in semiconductor production, in the characterization of optics, contamination studies or development of new photoresists. In environmental technology, for example, Fraunhofer ILT is developing processes for wastewater treatment that use a combination of plasma and UV treatment to break down pollutants.
Fraunhofer ILT’s services range from feasibility studies for customer-specific tasks, to the development of new processes, components and equipment all the way to fully automated systems and individual consulting.
