Dr. Patrick Ruther

Dr. Patrick Ruther studied physics at the University of Konstanz, Germany, and received his diploma in 1993, with a diploma thesis on the amorphisation behaviour of InP alloys under ion irradiation. In 1996 he finished his PhD thesis in mechanical engineering on a LIGA-made microsystem for the mechanical characterization of microsamples (University of Karlsruhe, Germany). The system combines a pneumatic microactuator with integrated force sensor and a microoptical deformation sensor. Between 1996 and 1998 he joined the Institute of Microstructure Technology IMT (Prof. Dr. V. Saile, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany) as postdoctoral fellow. He was responsible for industrial projects developing microoptical components based on the LIGA technology, e.g., multi-fibre connectors for telecommunication applications and microoptical distance sensors for robot applications. Since October 1998 Dr. Ruther is senior scientist and group leader with Prof. Dr. O. Paul (Institute for Microsystemtechnology IMTEK, University of Freiburg) and lecturer at the Department of Applied Sciences, University of Freiburg.

Research Interests

Nanostructured materials
IC-compatible new materials
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based on commercial IC processes