MPI Kolloquiumsreihe | Prof. Dr.-Ing. Nicole Gehring, OVGU Magdeburg: Growing Perfection: Model-Based Control of Single Crystal Growth for Semiconductors

The Max Planck Institute Magdeburg invites you to its series of colloquia.
Top-class scientists, from notable German and worldwide research institutions, give a survey of their research work.

Everybody who is interested, is invited to attend.

Dial-in via Zoom: https://eu02web.zoom-x.de/j/7302508065

Abstract

The production of high-quality single crystals is a cornerstone of modern semiconductor manufacturing. While various technologies—such as the Czochralski, Bridgman, and vertical gradient freeze (VGF) methods—have been developed to grow these crystals, achieving consistent crystal quality requires advanced control of the growth process.

The main focus of the talk is on the VGF process, for which a mathematical model is developed to describe heat transfer and solidification dynamics. Based on this model, both feedforward and feedback controlers are designed to shape the thermal field during growth. These model-based approaches have the potential to enhance reproducibility and to increase robustness to process disturbances, no just for the semiconductor manufacturing but also for other solidification and melting processes.

About the speaker (Google-Scholar)

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[2007] Diploma (Dipl.-Ing.) in Electrical Engineering at TU Dresden
[2007-2009] industrial stint at Siemens AG, Erlangen (control of power plants) and IAV GmbH, Gifhorn (control of diesel engines)
[2009-2015] research assistant at Chair of Systems Theory and Control Engineering at Saarland University
[2015] Doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) at Saarland University with Prof. J. Rudolph
[2015-2017] research associate at Chair of Automatic Control at TU Munich
[2017-2025] research associate at Institute of Automatic Control and Control Systems Technology at JKU Linz, Austria
[since 2025] Professor and Head of Chair of Systems Theory and Control Engineering at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg