Forschungszentrum Jülich Celebrates Foundation of Peter Grünberg Institute
8. April 2011
The foundation of the Peter Grünberg Institute was marked by a celebration and a scientific colloquium on 7 and 8 April.
Information technologies that are faster, more powerful and more energy-saving are the goal of the Jülich physicists, computer scientists and nanotechnologists who have been collaborating in the new Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI) since January 2011. The institute is named after the Jülich physicist and Nobel laureate. The foundation of the Peter Grünberg Institute was marked by a celebration and a scientific colloquium on 7 and 8 April.
"Peter Grünberg's discovery of the GMR effect, a fundamental physical effect, and the utilization of this discovery by the hard drive industry within just a few years is an impressive demonstration of how important strong basic research is for the discovery and application of novel electronic phenomena, methods and materials," said Prof. Achim Bachem, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Prof. Sebastian M. Schmidt, Member of the Board of Directors of Forschungszentrum Jülich.
The Peter Grünberg Institute is the central platform for basic research in the field of nanoelectronics in the Jülich-Aachen region. In the tradition of Peter Grünberg, PGI researchers are developing innovative approaches for information processing and data transmission and are designing new storage architectures, which will form the basis for tomorrow's hardware. They have powerful instruments at their disposal for this research. A facility for new gate materials and strained silicon-germanium structures aims, amongst other things, to create smaller and more powerful transistors for energy-saving mobile devices such as notebooks or mobile phones. In future, PGI will also operate the Helmholtz Nanoelectronic Facility (HNF), a modern cleanroom centre in which materials, processes and structures can be developed in the nanometre range for the next generation of semiconductors for tomorrow's chips. The institute is integrated into the FIT section of the Jülich Aachen Research Allliance (JARA) – a cooperation between Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University.
Press release (in German): http://www.fz-juelich.de/sid_8105A751B3862009D26DE921F7839674/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/UK/DE/2011/11-04-07GruendungPGI.html