Institut für Mikrosystemtechnik – IMTEK – The technology of small things for great challenges

Microsystems engineering makes our lives healthier, safer, more comfortable, more versatile and, last but not least, easier. It allows us to produce tiny micro-components that are 100 times smaller than a human hair. For example, microsystems engineering makes it possible to produce micro-­­sensors and micro-actuators. Today, microsystems are hidden everywhere. They trigger airbags in cars; they help us to drive safely on icy roads; in communications technology they make it possible to transmit data at high speeds; and in medicine they provide us with an entire laboratory on a micro-chip.

With over 20 highly-dynamic professors, IMTEK, the Department of Microsystems Engineering, part of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Freiburg, is one of the world’s leading academic research centers in this field. The research activities in this particularly important interdisciplinary field range from basic research to direct industrial collaboration.

Microsystems engineering is probably the engineering discipline with the broadest educational scope, with chemistry, physics, mathematics, electrical engineering and materials science forming its cornerstones. The IMTEK academic program is practice-­­oriented and opens a wide range of options for career development in an employment market with excellent prospects.