General Guidelines
In the current regulations for Electrical Engineering (ET) and Nanotechnology (NT) final theses are defined as follows;
- The thesis should demonstrate the student's capacity to independently address a subject-related problem using scientific methodologies within a given timeframe.
- The thesis must be submitted to the office designated by the examination board within 6 months of issuance of the topic. The submission date must be recorded on file.
- The total time spent on the work should be 360 hours (Bachelor) or 900 hours(Master).
- Upon thesis submission, a written declaration must accompany it, affirming that the work has been independently authored without the utilization of any sources or resources beyond those explicitly specified. It must confirm that any verbatim or conceptually borrowed content from external sources has been appropriately credited, and that the thesis has not previously been presented in a comparable form to any examination authority.
Main topics
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Unconventional sensor concepts
Co-resonant cantilever sensors
- Experimental investigation and characterization of sensor properties and performance
- Theoretical investigations of system effects and properties (simulation, analytical)
- Sensor fabrication
Prof. Dr.-Ing. J. KörnerProf. Dr.-Ing. J. KörnerPhoneSmart hydrogels for biomedical applications
- Modification and characterization of material properties
- Development of suitable fabrication approaches that enable microstructuring of hydrogels, e.g. 3D printing, molding
- Development of novel transduction concepts for swelling state determination of smart hydrogels
- Integration into novel sensor and actuator concepts with a biomedical focus
Prof. Dr.-Ing. J. KörnerProf. Dr.-Ing. J. KörnerPhone -
Semiconductortechnology for sustainable energy systems
Materials for tandem solar cells
- preparation and characterization of absorbing layers
- perovskites
- surface passivation
- electron and hole selective transport layers
Prof. Dr. R. PeibstProf. Dr. R. PeibstPhone -
Semiconductortechnology for novel device concepts
Materials for photonic crystals
- preparation and characterization of photonics crystals in silicon
- surface passivation
- integration in high-efficiency solar cells
Dr.-Ing. J. KrügenerDr.-Ing. J. KrügenerPhone
Topic Selection
The selected topic should have a connection to the institute's ongoing research or should offer enhancements to the "scientific infrastructure," which could involve refining or optimizing specific technological processes or measurement methods, among other aspects. Any scientific personnel within the institute, including PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers, can (and are encouraged to) suggest potential topics, which may align with facets of their own research. Our institute cannot supervise or evaluate external thesis projects.
Supervision
Every scientific employee of the institute can act as a supervisor. To maintain the quality of supervision, each staff member should oversee no more than three thesis projects at a time. Typically, a brief status meeting with the supervisor occurs on a weekly basis to ensure that the work is progressing as planned and to identify any necessary adjustments. This is primarily designed to give students the opportunity to continuously contribute their own ideas and concepts to the ongoing work.
During the Thesis Project
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Training Phase
Within a maximum of 3 weeks from starting the thesis project, every student is required to deliver a brief presentation outlining their proposed thesis topic during the weekly institute meeting. This presentation should encompass the following slides:
- Cover slide: Topic, type of thesis (project work, bachelor- /master- thesis), student name, course of study, project schedule, supervisor
- One slide each:
- What do I want to investigate? (Objective)
- Why do I want to investigate this? (Motivation)
- What does my work build on? (Literature, previous theses etc.)
- How am I going to investigate? (Outline)
- Additional slides:
- Experimental procedures (Samples, setups, sampling methods, etc.)
- If available preliminary results
In order to incorporate the student's ideas and concepts into the project, the formal project description should be revised and adapted with the supervisor during the first few weeks of the project. The revised version should be summarized on 1-2 A4 pages and discussed with the two examiners a maximum of 4 weeks after starting the work.
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Interim Reports
At least once every month, students are obligated to present the progress of their project during the institute meeting . This enables continuous open discussion of the project as well as feedback from peers and scientific personnel. Input of new ideas is always welcome.
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Work
In order to ensure optimal supervision and exchange with peers and scientific personnel, all work is carried out at the institute. An appropriate office work station will be provided to every student. Longer absences have to be coordinated and approved by the supervisor.
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Thesis Writing
A first complete draft of the written thesis should be submitted to the supervising person at least 4 weeks before the final deadline. Feedback will usually be given within a week, with the supervising person giving priority to the content of the thesis. The supervisors are not responsible for the technical and linguistic quality of the final version, but may refuse to accept the draft if the technical and linguistic quality is poor. If the complete first draft is not available by the stated deadline, the supervisor is not obliged to provide feedback. The rules for the technical layout of final theses (including citations) must be observed (see handout). The final version of the thesis has to be submitted to the examiners at least one week before the presentation.
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Transfer of Samples, Data, etc.
After the thesis is submitted, it is required to provide the supervisor with all samples, protocols, data and related materials in an organized manner. An accompanying summary of the materials transferred should be included. A final grade will not be awarded until this has taken place.
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Grading
The grade is determined in a discussion between the examiners and the supervisor, usually immediately following the presentation. In addition to the written thesis and the final presentation, independent work by the student is taken into account. The entire range of grades is used. A paper can only be graded "very good" if it demonstrates a high linguistic and technical quality.
Ask Us about Thesis Projects
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