Society and the market are demanding a wide range of products, from thinner and lighter consumer electronics to extremely compact medical implants. At the same time, the demand for computing power and functionality, including built-in AI, is increasing. This is creating a demand for semiconductor chips that are physically smaller and integrate increasingly advanced components within the same space.

To continue scaling down components, nanoscale precision is required. This requires extremely expensive manufacturing equipment. This is where AlixLabs comes in. AlixLabs is a spin-off from Lund University where the founders developed a technology that simplifies the manufacturing process for the most advanced semiconductor chips. This method allows chip manufacturers to pack components more densely without adding costly and resource-intensive lithography steps (the intricate patterns that form the basis of the chip's electronic components).

'Our technology replaces four process steps with one. That's where the significant cost savings come from," says Per-Anders Eriksson, COO and Deputy CEO at AlixLabs.

The world's only company specialising purely in atomic layer etching.

The technology is called APS (Atomic Layer Etch Split Pitching) and involves etching semiconductor material at the atomic level. A simplified analogy would be to imagine drawing lines with a regular pencil and then carefully erasing material in the middle of each line with a super-fine eraser. The result? Each line is divided into two much thinner lines. This makes it possible to create significantly denser patterns than would have been possible with the pencil alone.

'Today, there is no European chip manufacturer that can achieve the nanostructure size we are working towards. At the same time, the global industry demands this level of nanostructure when it comes to developing smart devices and, above all, AI. The industry is discussing the need for chips to be more efficient and robust in order to handle all the data traffic that will flow through them," says Per-Anders Eriksson.

The customers are large semiconductor manufacturers, many of whom supply semiconductor chips to well-known tech giants. While the customer base is currently mainly in Asia, AlixLabs also hopes to play a part in the semiconductor initiative in Europe and on a global scale.

The ProNano base and infrastructure.

AlixLabs is based at ProNano, RISE's innovation hub and testing and demonstration environment for next-generation semiconductors. ProNano provides a range of essential services to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in the semiconductor industry. One of these is infrastructure, including clean rooms and laboratories.

It is challenging for a start-up company to build and maintain its own laboratory. Semiconductor equipment often costs tens of millions of Swedish kronor. In addition, setting up a lab requires a completely different set of expertise to that needed for process development. This is where ProNano comes in: we enable companies to focus on their core development," says Linda Johansson, who leads the ProNano team and heads the quantum technology and semiconductors unit at RISE.

In addition to being located under the same roof as ProNano's semiconductor experts (who can provide qualified assistance upon request), AlixLabs also participates in research projects with RISE and utilises the lab environments with equipment. The partnership is both close and extensive.

'When you work with technology like ours, which requires long development cycles, it is essential to have good partners in place. RISE is an excellent partner for us in this context. I don’t think we would have come this far if we hadn’t been part of ProNano,’ says Per-Anders Eriksson.

The answer comes quickly when asked about AlixLabs' market potential.

"It's huge! We have verified with our customers that our technology works and is reliable. We are now entering a phase where we will demonstrate its effectiveness in a production chain. We are currently working on that. We are building our beta machine, which we expect to be ready by the end of 2026. We also anticipate carrying out our first large-scale customer project by then,' says Per-Anders Eriksson.