Keynote Speakers

Alina Absmeier is the Head of Production at Infineon Technologies Austria AG since August 2024.

Before that, she had managed the Furnace & WET department at Infineon Production in Villach since 2018. She has been with Infineon Technologies Austria since 2007. Starting as a process engineering trainer, she gained extensive experience in the production environment and in quality management e.g. as Sustaining Engineer in the field of furnace technology, process integration for BIPOLAR products, Senior Engineer Quality Management and Director Unit Process Engineering.

Alina Absmeier was born in Munich in 1979 and holds a doctorate in technical chemistry, as well as a MBA.in business administration.

Villach is the center of innovation at Infineon and innovation spearhead of the global power semiconductor industry.

Our fab in Villach runs 24 hours, 365 days. We produce wafers in three diameters and three materials. Within the Infineon Group we are the Global Competence Center for Power Semiconductors, for new semiconductor materials and THE INNOVATION FAB since 55 years.

Semiconductor production is one of the most complex processes in the world, with a staggering 1,800 different product types being processed simultaneously. This involves up to 1,000 individual process steps, one of these key process steps is Ion Implantation. In Villach we are innovating new implantation processes for Silicon and WBG materials that enable next generation technologies and bring them to mass production capability.

Dr. Gerald Deboy received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the Technical University Munich in 1991 and 1996 respectively. He joined Siemens Corporate Research and Development in 1992 and the Semiconductor Division of Siemens in 1995, which became Infineon Technologies later on. His research interests were focused on the development of new device concepts for power electronics based on the Superjunction principle. From 2004 onward he was heading the Technical marketing department for power semiconductors and ICs within the Infineon Technologies Austria AG. Since 2009 he is leading a System Innovation group specializing on new fields for power electronics with specific focus on application cases for wide bandgap technologies. He is a Sr. member of IEEE and has served as a member of the Technical Committee for Power Devices and Integrated Circuits within the Electron Device Society. In 2023 Dr. Gerald Deboy was awarded the IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies jointly with co-recipients Dr. David Coe and Dr. Tatsuhiko Fujihira for contributions to concept and realization of Superjunction devices.

Dr. Deboy has authored and coauthored more than 100 papers in national and international journals including contributions to three student text books. He holds currently more than 100 granted international patents and has more applications pending.

Bio shorter version: (I compiled if we need to have it shorter)

Dr. Gerald Deboy is a renowned expert in power electronics, holding an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the Technical University Munich. He has worked at Siemens and Infineon Technologies since 1992, focusing on the development of new device concepts for power electronics based on the Superjunction principle. Later he was leading the Technical Marketing department and a System Innovation group focused on wide bandgap technologies. Dr. Deboy's research has centered on developing new device concepts and he has authored over 100 papers and holds more than 100 international patents. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and has served on the Technical Committee for Power Devices and Integrated Circuits. In 2023, Dr. Deboy was awarded the IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies for his contributions to the concept and realization of Superjunction devices.

Key technologies for powering AI

AI applications such as Chat GPT are rapidly changing the way how we work and retrieve data. Behind the capabilities of these applications are massive training efforts with ten thousands of high performance Graphical Processing Units clustered into one virtual machine. The need to power these processors with thousands to ten thousand amperes of load current is rapidly changing server boards, rack power and datacenter architectures.

This talk will give an introduction into the underlying challenges and potential solutions with our technologies ranging from low voltage Silicon power devices to high voltage SiC MOSFETs. Corresponding packaging techniques such as chip embedding and 3D integration will be covered as well.

Andreas Kugi is Scientific Director of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and Professor of Complex Dynamical Systems at TU Wien. His research focuses on AI-based modeling, control, and optimization of complex dynamical systems, with applications in robotics, automation, and industrial processes. He has collaborated with more than 40 companies and authored over 400 scientific publications. His work aims to bridge advanced systems theory with real-world industrial and technological challenges. He is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech).

AI, Automation & Robots – From Manufacturing to Autonomy

Artificial intelligence and automation are transforming high-tech systems and changing how humans work and interact with technology. From semiconductor manufacturing processes and complex industrial systems to robotics and autonomous systems, AI enables levels of precision, learning, and control beyond what humans can achieve alone. This talk explores how these technologies connect across scales and why systems thinking is essential for the engineers of the future.