Microchips for Megatrends: Join Us and Shape the Future

Martin's passion for science applies to surfaces – a precision research in the nanometer range. While at university, he contributed to 25 articles in international journals. But he wasn't content with merely seeing his research in writing: "It's fantastic to see how my scientific work is now impacting how groundbreaking products are manufactured." 

As a PhD physicist, Martin now works in a high-tech industrial environment, where scientific ideas enable the technologies of tomorrow. Martin is a process developer at the ZEISS Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology segment. As a surface specialist, he develops polishing processes for current & future lithography optics.

Larissa just loves working as a development engineer. "I think what we've been able to achieve here is just so impressive," she says. "We're producing ever more precise optics so that we can ultimately create smaller and smaller semiconductor structures."

That's why there's such a pronounced need for sophisticated measuring machines, and Larissa and her international team are in charge of developing the highly complex mechatronic systems for them – she's also spent some time doing so outside Germany.

She and her team leverage their expertise and passion as they strive to keep pushing the limits of what is technically feasible. "You can only hope to be successful if you're working with people who share your passion and are proud to be a part of this development. That's certainly the case here."
So what makes her job so exciting? The fact that she can use her fascination with technology to create parts for complex machines, that she faces new and unprecedented challenges every day, and that "there's a much steeper learning curve here than there ever was at university."

Simon left academia to work in an industrial setting - and he doesn't regret his decision one bit: "I think it's fantastic to be able to follow my scientific passion and come up with solutions to complex problems – all while driving the success of groundbreaking products." 

As a functional manager, Simon works with his team to develop software and processes used to evaluate the new optical elements throughout the production process, thus navigating through it. Simon is an object architect for mirror assessment at the ZEISS Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology segment. 

"Our structure enables me to lead a team purely on the functional level. That means I can focus fully on ensuring technical progress."

Karoline works at a place where progress is created. This has been true since she wrote her doctoral thesis at CERN, as part of the research team that proved the existence of the Higgs particle. 

"After that I wanted to focus on advancing and innovating products," she says. And that's exactly what she did - by turning her attention to the automation of production and measuring processes for the world's most precise mirrors. She is the interface between colleagues working in Production and those working with highly complex measuring machines. 

She and her team make sure that the high-tech mirrors used in EUV lithography are manufactured in the first place, and can then be used to produce microchips. The resulting new chip generation raises the bar in digitalization. 

Karoline heads up the Automation department for Production and Measuring Processes at the ZEISS Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology segment. She also campaigns for greater diversity and has joined networks committed to helping more women assume leadership positions.