Surrey NanoSystems, a University of Surrey spin-out working on a low-temperature growth process for carbon nanotubes, has secured second round funding of £2.5m
Surrey NanoSystems was established in 2006 as a spin-out from the University of Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) to develop intellectual property which supports the fabrication of carbon nanotubes at low temperature.
The company developed a platform called NanoGrowth which creates conditions for the growth of precision carbon nanotubes at both the temperatures and densities needed for CMOS process technology.
The company is now optimising its technology for the mass-volume manufacturing environment, by scaling the hardware and refining and scaling the materials processing technology.
The new funding will allow Surrey NanoSystems to scale the materials growth technology from its current 100mm wafer size capability to the 300mm sizes used in commercial wafer fabrication plants.
"The semiconductor industry urgently needs a new interconnection technology. If you can solve the problem of growing precision carbon nanotubes at silicon-friendly temperatures - and we have - it opens up a massive potential market," said Ben Jensen, CTO of Surrey NanoSystems.
Traditional copper interconnections used in IC fabrication, is starting to face technical difficulties as the geometry sizes of ICs shrink.
The belief is that carbon nanotubes can be structured to act as extremely efficient conductors, but conventionally-grown nanotubes require temperatures of around 700 degrees C, which is not practical for semiconductor processing.
Surrey NanoSystems’ fabrication process allows carbon nanotube structures to be grown at silicon-friendly processing temperatures of 350 degrees C or less.
"We expect to be the company that is able to offer a viable new interconnection process for high-volume semiconductor fabrication, one that really exploits the incredible performance properties of carbon nanotubes," said Jensen.
Surrey NanoSystems is also pursuing technology partnerships with both semiconductor manufacturers and volume cluster tool suppliers.
Investors include the University of Surrey, Octopus Ventures and IP Group.