Yesterday, at Waferbond 2025 in Chemnitz, five young researchers were honored with the prestigious Silicon Science Award 2025. The award ceremony took place during the opening ceremony on 3rd December 2025. The award is presented every two years. In this seventh edition, innovative theses in the categories of bachelor’s and master’s theses as well as dissertations are honored.
The awards
Vincent Marius Haude (TU Ilmenau/IMMS) received the award for his outstanding bachelor’s thesis on the topic of “Development and characterization of a circuit topology for generating short LED light pulses” for the further development of sensors for in vitro diagnostics.
Two winners were selected in the master’s thesis category.
The well-researched thesis by Halthi Dakshina Murthy Suhas (Schmalkalden University of Applied Sciences) dealt with the “Analysis of the influences of multi-stimulus environmental loads on MEMS inertial measurement units” and was written during an industrial internship at Bosch Sensortech GmbH.
In his master’s thesis entitled “Andreev Reflection in Single-Molecule Junctions,” Lorenz Meyer (Ilmenau University of Technology) investigated electron and hole transport across the interface between a normal conductor and a superconductor connected by a single organic molecule. His groundbreaking results were published in the renowned journal Physical Review Letters.
Two other submissions impressed in the dissertation category.
The starting point for Dr. Arne Behrens’ (TU Ilmenau, Institute for Micro- and Nanotechnologies) dissertation was the observation that the controlled production of optical whispering gallery mode resonators (WGMR) using lithographic methods remains challenging to this day. His research results on “Plasma-based 2.5D+micro and nanostructuring for whispering gallery mode resonators” optimize the lithographic process and were presented in the journal “Optical Materials Express.”
The CiS Research Institute is particularly pleased about the award presented to Dr. Mario Bähr. In his dissertation on “Scalable components for magnetometry based on NV centers in diamond,” he researched the modification of industrial diamond materials and their evaluation for use as quantum sensor materials. The results of his research contributed to five patent applications.
In addition, he developed a highly miniaturized magnetometer on an emitter-receiver platform established at the CiS Research Institute, which uses NV centers in diamond as transducers. The work was honored with magna cum laude and was completed under Prof. Jan Meijer (University of Leipzig, Department of Applied Quantum Systems).
The CiS Research Institute extends its warmest congratulations to all award winners and wishes them every success in their future scientific careers.
The Silicon Science Award is presented every two years by CiS e.V. in collaboration with the CiS Research Institute for Microsensor Technology and honors outstanding theses in the field of silicon-based research in the areas of sensor technology, optoelectronic microsystems, quantum technologies, and innovative assembly and connection technology. An expert jury from supraregional research institutions evaluates the quality and innovative strength of the submitted theses.
CiS e.V. would like to express its sincere thanks for the dedicated review and support. Special thanks also go to all sponsors and their generous support, which makes the competition a unique platform for promoting young talent and publicizes and recognizes their innovations in silicon-based technologies in science and industry.
With the successful presentation of the Silicon Science Award, planning for the eighth edition of the award is now underway. Further information will be published shortly on the CiS Research Institute website.
