Value proposition

Sustainability, reliability and material efficiency of materials are the core competencies of our applied research.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems is a methodologically oriented Fraunhofer Institute working in the disciplines of materials science and materials engineering. The Fraunhofer IMWS is a point of contact for industry and public service clients on all questions relating to the microstructure of materials and systems. Its aim is to increase material efficiency and conserve resources.

The work of the Fraunhofer IMWS is directed at identifying errors and weak spots in materials, components and systems at the micro and nano scale, explaining how they have arisen and providing solutions for clients based on those findings. The institute's industrial clients include companies from the field of microelectronics and microsystems technology, photovoltaics, plastics engineering, the chemical industry, power engineering, and automotive or aircraft construction. This work goes hand in hand with the further development of methods and tools for microstructure analysis, enabling industrial clients with tailor-made device configurations to identify and avoid sources of error themselves in future.

The microstructural approach of the Fraunhofer IMWS makes it possible to design technology development specific to the material right at the development stage and to customise the functional properties of the components or systems. Apart from the microstructure-based technology development the development of new high throughput screening methods is also of key importance here.

The Fraunhofer IMWS is incorporated in the Weinberg Campus, the second largest scientific campus in East Germany, together with the Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg and the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics Halle.

Materials insights, Electronics, Medicine and Environment, Photovoltaics, Phosphors, Hydrogen, and Plastics