News

We are happy to announce the 2024 winners of the Dr. Fritz and Gerda Ruf awards, donated to the University of Freiburg by the benefactors Dr. Fritz and Gerda Ruf. The two prizes are awarded regularly for special achievements in the field of sustainability engineering at the technical faculty.

The 2024 prizes are awarded to:

Dr.-Ing. Alexander Schiffmacher for his dissertation entitled:

New methods to accelerate the validation of the lifetime of highly reliable power semiconductor modules

at the technical faculty of Freiburg.

Winner of the Dr. Fritz Ruf award: Dr.-Ing. Alexander Schiffmacher (center) with Markus Wener (left, Fritz-Hüttinger Stiftung) and the head of the university of Freiburg, Prof. Krieglstein.

Dr. Schiffmacher received the award for the development of in-situ degradation monitoring methods of electronic power modules which are critical for modern efficient power systems. The methods are suitable for the detection of degradations in power electronic modules during active power cycling tests and help to reduce the significant material consumption of modern power systems, such as in chargers in electric cars.

The Gerda Ruf prize for the best master thesis in the field of sustainability engineering is awarded to:

Sebastián Rivero Equiza

for his thesis:

Quantitative resilience assessment of the European power system against compound dry/hot events

at the Department for Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH).

Winner of the Gerda Ruf award: Sebastián Rivero Equiza (center) with Markus Wener (left, Fritz-Hüttinger Stiftung) and the head of the university of Freiburg, Prof. Krieglstein.

The thesis by Sebastián Rivero Equiza investigates the impact of compound dry/hot events, specifically heatwaves, on the resilience of the European power system. The study integrates the dependency of thermoelectric power plants and electricity demand on temperature into the open-source power system model PyPSA-EUR. Employing a disturbance theoretical approach, the 2003 heatwave is integrated into a reference system spanning 2020 to 2050.

We congratulate the winners  and thank the Fritz-Hüttinger Stiftung for their long term support!

We happily congratulate Matthias Sinnwell,

who successfully completed his doctoral thesis on 28th March 2025 at the Technical Faculty at the University of Freiburg with the title:

On the Vertical Fin Field-Effect Transistor in Gallium Nitride: Experimental Realization and Evaluation of the Frequency Capability for High-Power, High-Frequency Applications.

An excellent piece of work on the subject of Group III-nitride semiconductors in cooperation with the Fraunhofer IAF.

We happily congratulate Philip Schätzle,

who successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled:

Nitrogen-doped diamond thin films for quantum computing

on 29th April 2025 at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Freiburg.

An excellent piece of work in the transition between material theory and its  implementation for future quantum computing, performed in cooperation with Fraunhofer IAF.

We warmly congratulate Niklas Mathes,

who successfully completed his doctorate on May 28, 2025, at the Technical Faculty at the University of Freiburg, entitled:

Widefield NV-Center Quantum Sensing for Non-Destructive Materials Testing

A beautiful piece of work on the possibilities of quantum sensor technology, combined with an understanding of material fatigue, in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institutes IAF and IWM.

We are happy to announce that in march 2025 Nikhil Kabbur defended his master thesis entitled:

 Development of an Embedded System for Inline Elemental Detection in Laser Micromachining.

 with the goal of Inline quality control of Laser Micro-Via drilling process for multilayer Printed circuit boards.

 The thesis was performed at Fraunhofer IPM under the joint supervision of Prof, Dr. Rüdiger Quay and Prof. Dr. Daniel Carl.