Awards

Ilmenau University Society awards dissertation prize

Every year, the Universitätsgesellschaft Ilmenau - Freunde, Förderer, Alumni e. V. awards the prize for the best dissertation at TU Ilmenau. The award for 2019 went to Dr. Christoph Weigel for his dissertation "Fluorine-based dry etching of microstructures in glass and glass ceramics", which was written at the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Microsystems Technology Group.

Prof. Dagmar Schipanski (left) and Dr. Christoph Weigel (right) Marco Frezzella
Presentation of the Dissertation Award to Dr. Christoph Weigel

In his dissertation, Christoph Weigel developed new approaches for the microstructuring of complex glasses and glass ceramics. The dissertation prize, which is endowed with 5000 euros, was awarded by the Chair of the University Society, Prof. Dr. Dagmar Schipanski, at the Senate meeting on 8 December 2020.

Glasses and glass ceramics are important materials for micro-optics, microsensors and micromechanics, as they exhibit a high degree of resistance to environmental influences with constant physical properties. In his dissertation, Dr. Christoph Weigel developed new approaches for the microstructuring of such complex glasses and glass ceramics. With his theoretical study of the plasma etching process, he achieved new types of structuring, which he tested in practice. An outstanding result of his work is the production of free-swinging micromechanical elements in Zerodur, a glass-ceramic material from Schott AG, by etching on both sides. Weigel developed, for example, a new type of spring structure that is particularly temperature-stable due to the Zerodur material and is suitable, for example, for mechanical watches. The new process has already attracted considerable international interest at conferences and in publications in specialist journals. Dr. Weigel says he owes his research to the technological framework conditions at TU Ilmenau: "The excellent facilities at the university, especially at the Center for Micro- and Nanotechnologies, made my research in this specialized field possible in the first place."