The lecture focussed on the world of the smallest particles. Prof Dr Corinna Kaulen was supported by Prof Dr Johannes Wild and industrial master of chemistry Tobias Wolf. All three are members of the Faculty of Applied Natural and Cultural Sciences at OTH Regensburg and combined their expertise for this special event.
The chemist is conducting research at the university into the production of nanoparticles for use in sensors and catalysts. The children's university also focussed on very small particles that are invisible to the naked eye.
After the introduction by the organisers from the University of Regensburg and the sponsor Infineon, represented by Ms Erika Bauer, the OTH team led us into the world of small particles, asked questions and provided answers. How can you make small things bigger? What is small? In the lecture theatre, small images and even microchips were made larger using a magnifying glass and microscope so that all the children in the university's Audimax and the parents in the gallery could see them.
In modern technical devices such as smartphones, the components are so small that it is almost impossible to see or build them using normal methods. This is where microsystems technology - which uses chemical methods such as etching or lithography - can help. Lithography comes from the Greek and means ‘to write on stone’.
By the end of the experiment, the children had seen how lettering can be etched into stone, how the photolithographic process works, how patterns can be printed using light and even learnt a little bit of Greek along the way.
