The Fritz Hüttinger Foundation and the University of Freiburg have signed an endowment agreement establishing the Fritz Hüttinger Professorship for Energy-Efficient Radio-Frequency Electronics at the Institute for Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH). The Foundation is donating a total of one million Euros over a period of ten years for the endowed chair. The goal of the new professorship is to advance the University of Freiburg’s development of innovative technologies in the field of efficiency of electronics.
“We are deeply grateful to the donors Mrs. Gerda Ruf and Dr. Fritz Ruf for the many years of generous support of our research and teaching,” said Rector Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Schiewer, adding: “We regard the Foundation’s decision to remain a close partner by funding another endowed professorship as an extraordinary sign of trust.” The University of Freiburg also granted the Rufs the titles of Honorary Senators in 2018 as a token of gratitude for their special contribution to the continued advancement of the Faculty of Engineering.
The Fritz Hüttinger Professorship will focus on engineering aspects of the energy efficiency of micro- and nano-electronic building blocks and circuits, especially those based on compound semiconductors. “The goal of research and development is to understand and optimize the efficiency and robustness of electrical components and systems in applications in fields such as energy technologies, communications technologies, security technologies, and sensor technologies,” says associate professor Dr. Rüdiger Quay from the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg and the Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Solid State Physics IAF, who accepted the offer of the professorship.
This thematic focus is primarily based on such emerging fields of research as fourth industrial revolution and 5G, the fifth generation technology for cellular networks that will enable a completely new level of communication and connectivity among humans, machines, and production. The scientists researching in the lab of this new professorship will thus be researching and testing sustainable electronic microsystems and intelligent materials for the Internet of Things.