AlixLabs announces EU-wide APS Trademark and nearing commercialization on 300-millimeter wafer equipment

The European Intellectual Property Office grants Swedish semiconductor startup registration of the phrase APS (ALE Pitch Splitting).

Lund, Sweden – April 5th, 2024, AlixLabs AB, a Swedish semiconductor startup specializing in Atomic Layer Etching, announces that it has been granted a certification of registration for its trademark APS by the European Union Intellectual Property Office. The acronym APS stands for Atomic Layer Etching (ALE) Pitch Splitting and describes the company’s revolutionary process that aims to enable the semiconductor industry produce chips of the future at Ångström scale (1Å = 0.1 nanometer) at lower cost and energy use.

Jonas Sundqvist, CEO of AlixLabs (top) and Thomas Engstedt CEO of Nanovac and Dmitry Suyatin CTO of AlixLabs (Bottom).

“As we are nearing commercialization of our technology on 300-millimeter (12-inch) silicon wafers, it feels great to finally have a unique trademark to our unique semiconductor manufacturing process,” comments Jonas Sundqvist, CEO of AlixLabs. “We have been etching transistor fins since 2019, and within the upcoming quarters we will have fully validated the APS process on 300-millimeter wafers with new equipment developed by our fellow countrymen at Nanovac.”

Having previously demonstrated APS on bulk silicon, AlixLabs aims to install the new Nanovac-developed equipment in the summer of 2024. Once up and running, the goal is to finalize a commercial APS process that can be licensed to leading-edge semiconductor manufacturers to enable cheaper, more energy-efficient and sustainable production of advanced chips.

“This 300-millimeter wafer tool combines our deep industry knowledge with practical design innovations, aiming to offer improved precision and efficiency in semiconductor manufacturing,” says Thomas Engstedt, founder and CEO at Nanovac. “It’s a disruptive step forward for Atomic Layer Etching and APS processing, setting a solid foundation for future advancements by employing modular design concepts.”

APS is the first trademark of AlixLabs, joining the company’s growing portfolio of patents related to the APS process that includes one EU, two U.S., and two Taiwanese patents.

About AlixLabs

Established in 2019 in Lund, Sweden, AlixLabs emerged as a spin-off from Lund University with a mission to enable the cost-effective and energy-conscious fabrication of semiconductors, particularly logic and memory components. AlixLabs boasts patented recognition for its groundbreaking APS technique, a process that achieves nanostructure division through etching. This method holds approved patents across the USA, Taiwan, and Europe. The APS acronym signifies ALE Pitch Splitting, leveraging ALE (Atomic Layer Etching), a plasma-based dry etching cyclic methodology. For more details, please visit www.alixlabs.com