This year, 25 research and development teams from Germany and abroad competed for the prestigious AMA Innovation Award. The winners receive prize money of 10,000 euros, which can be divided by the jury.

Among the 25 entries, there were a total of 7 companies competing for the special 'Young Company' award. They have all been on the market for less than five years, employ fewer than 50 people and generate annual sales of less than 10 million euros.

This year, three of these teams convinced the jury members from science and industry. AIM Systems GmbH from St. Ingbert for a measuring device for non-contact inline measurement of the layer thickness of Li-ion battery electrodes. The Quantum Technologies GmbH team from Leipzig for its fiber-coupled magnetic field quantum sensor, which measures magnetic field strength with purely optical precision, and Sykno GmbH from Erlangen for a measuring system for the contactless recording of vital parameters.

All three teams will receive a free trade show appearance at SENSOR+TEST 2023 in Nuremberg and are also further in the running for the main prize, the AMA Innovation Award 2023.

Nominated for the AMA Innovation Award 2023 (in alphabetical order):

Photothermal inline measurement of battery electrodes
Team spokesman: Dr. Stefan Böttger (AIM Systems GmbH, St. Ingbert).
A measuring device for non-contact inline measurement of the layer thickness of Li-ion battery electrodes is presented. The innovation allows highly accurate measurement of electrode coatings and is tolerant to vibration and waviness of the samples. (brochure p. 8)

Sensor revolution through integrated vortex tunnel resistor technology
Team spokesperson: Dr. Armin Satz (Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg; Infineon Technologies Austria AG, Villach; Danube University Krems, University of Vienna)
In the development of magnetic sensors, the use of vortex magnetization in the signal-generating TMR layer offers the advantage of flexibly adapting the magnetic measurement range to the application with minimal magnetic hysteresis. The layer thickness and the structure size are matched to each other in such a way that the vortex magnetization is always reliably adjusted spontaneously, even without external initial magnetization. The intrinsic symmetry of the vortex magnetization minimizes cross-field sensitivity and optimizes the phase accuracy of sensor products. (brochure p. 8)

QT-RH105: First magnetic field quantum sensor for industrial use
Team spokesperson: Dr. Robert Staacke (Quantum Technologies GmbH, Leipzig)
The QT-RH105 is a fiber-coupled magnetic field sensor that measures magnetic field strength with purely optical precision. The quantum sensor exploits the magnetic field dependence of the spin states of nitrogen defect centers in diamond and their fluorescence. The sensor head is no thicker than a human hair, chemically inert, non-magnetic, non-conducting and thus galvanically isolated. Compared to conventional semiconductor sensors, this opens up completely new areas of application in magnetic field sensor technology. (brochure p. 9)

Infrared "TMOS" sensor for presence and motion detection
Team spokesperson: Luca Fontanella (STMicroelectronics, Cornaredo - Italy)
The STHS34PF80 is an uncooled, factory calibrated IR sensor with an operating wavelength between 5 μm and 20 μm. The STHS34PF80 sensor is designed to measure the amount of IR radiation emitted by an object within its field of view for presence detection. It features exceptional sensitivity and does not require an optical lens to detect the presence of people and the movement of objects at a distance of up to four meters, making the sensor an ideal replacement for conventional PIR solutions on the market. (brochure p. 9)

Non-contact measurement system for respiration, heartbeat and heart tones
Team speaker Dr. Fabian Michler (Sykno GmbH, Erlangen).
Sykno presents a measuring system for contactless recording of vital parameters. It can be placed under the patient's bed, for example, and penetrates the patient's mattress and clothing. Using radar-based distance measurement, heartbeat, respiration rate and heart sounds can be recorded in medical quality without the need for adhesive electrodes as in conventional ECG. In contrast to competing products, the system is characterized by its high measurement precision, which for the first time enables measurement of heart sounds and thus of the finest surface vibrations. (Brochure p. 10)

"Once again, we had the pleasure of sifting through many high-quality submissions. Despite the difficult last few years, innovative minds from sensor and measurement technology developed exciting approaches to solutions," says Professor Andreas Schütze, jury chairman from Saarland University. "This year, as many as five teams convinced us. Among them, two teams led by established companies and three young companies that could not be more different. We look forward to meeting the nominees in person at SMSI 2023 in May."

The winners of the AMA Innovation Award 2023 will be announced on May 8, 2023, at the opening event of SMSI 2023 - Sensor and Measurement Science International, which will be held in parallel with SENSOR+TEST 2023 in Nuremberg.
 

The overview of all applications for the AMA Innovation Award 2023 at: http://www.ama-sensorik.de/fileadmin/Innovationspreis/2023/2023_Broschuere_090323.pdf