A Shining Star In Lund's Nano-Sky

NordAmps is a spinoff from Lund University's Department of Nanoelectronics and the Lund Nano Lab that delivers the next generation of transistors. Designed for high-frequency wireless communication, NordAmps’ technology brings high performance as well as sustainability. Building on research carried out over the past 15 years, NordAmps is part of Lund's investment in nanotechnology. The nano community in Lund has grown significantly and today includes 390 researchers.

From an international perspective, Lund is a real hot spot for nano-based materials. Alongside MIT and Berkeley, Lund boasts the best technology. –It has also achieved the most successful publications and scientific results in the field of nanotechnology, says Lars Tilly, CEO, NordAmps at Ideon Science Park. ?

–As a result of many successful studies, several companies have spun off from Lund University’s nano community. NordAmps is one of them, says Lars Tilly, CEO. Many of us know each other, have complementary technologies and work together.

Professor Erik Lind and Professor Lars-Erik Wernersson are the brains behind the innovation that NordAmps is built upon, which involves designing transistors in a completely new way. The duo founded NordAmps in 2016. Since then, the company, led by Lars Tilly, has been working on refining and developing its technology.

Cultivating Vertical Nanowires

In a clean room, where you often find nanoscientists, co-founders Lind and Wernersson decided to use vertical nanowires to make transistors. They improved the process of growing them, to make so-called high-speed MOS (Metal Oxide Semi-Conductor) transistors.

Knowing how to better cultivate vertical nanowires led NordAmps to develop a technology to make transistors that save energy, are more cost-effective, and produces lower noise.

–When growing vertical nanowires, we use a catalytic process. It allows us to grow a wire in only ten minutes, Lars says. This is much faster than usual. ?

The catalytic reaction causes the wire to grow exactly where it should, more specifically precisely under a metal dot on the wafer.

–The wires are a kind of 'sprout' from a surface, a silicon wafer, says Lars. The wires are around 30 nm ‘thick’.

–Thanks to the process we are using when growing the wires, we can control the growth of the nanowires and give them the desired properties and dimensions we are looking for, says Lars Tilly, who also has a Ph.D. in solid-state physics. The team can precisely engineer the nanostructures we need to develop our advanced transistor technology.

The process is quick, precise, and gentle:

–When the nanowires grow out from the wafer, they are also non-damaging to the circuits already in place on the silicon surface where they grow, says Lars. ??

Also, not surprisingly, space is a factor in integrated circuits. When nanowires are placed vertically, they occupy less surface. They thus leave space for other components. This way transistors can get higher density.

–NordAmps transistors are typically used when developing advanced integrated circuits for which one needs a lot of integrations and high performance, says Lars.

Vertical is the Thing

With its proximity to Lund University with labs and cleanrooms, such as the one that NordAmps is using, the team is working on fine-tuning its technique.

–The uniqueness of our transistors, says Lars, lies in the vertical aspect. The vertically grown nanowire is the key to these, next-generation transistors.

The NordAmps team is in fact about to launch some of the world’s most efficient transistors.

–We are just tweaking some things, says Lars, humbly.

Laterally vs. Vertically Oriented Transistors

Most transistors are designed laterally. This means that the current runs through a lateral, horizontal, channel. Instead, a vertical transistor design has vertically oriented nanowires, perpendicular to the surface of the substrate.?

What co-founders Lind and Wernersson were aware of is that vertical transistor components perform better and are more efficient than traditional and lateral ones.

Why? It has to do with where and how the so-called gate electrode, the contact, that oversees the steering of the electric current, is placed in the transistor.

–On a vertical nanowire transistor, the gate is wrapped around the nanowire. It is vertically placed between the source and the so-called drain terminals. This position allows the gate, to steer the current from all directions, Lars explains.

–The vertical design gives better control over the flow of electrons and reduces current leakages. All in all, this improves the transistor's performance and efficiency.

Vertical design is great for advanced semiconductor technologies.

Particularly when one is looking for high performance and work with very small components, such as integrated circuits for computers, smartphones, and other electronic devices. High performance can mean different things:

NordAmps’ transistor works at high frequencies and can amplify high-frequency signals:

–The higher the frequency, the more data you can transmit per time unit, Lars says. With a higher frequency, you can have a larger bandwidth enabling faster data transfer. Our transistors increase the data transfer speed to reach 1 TB per second.

Hence, more data is processed and transmitted - faster and better.

Selecting Materials Carefully

The material used is another transistor-specific issue.

What also differentiates NordAmps from other players, is the conscious choice of materials:

–We carefully chose the material for the nanowires. We work with an alloy that consists of indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) and indium arsenide (InAs). The materials are common in optical fiber components, says Lars. The beauty of the material is that it lets the electrons move around freely and very fast. This helps our transistors work at very high frequencies and boost high-frequency signals.

The choice of materials makes the transistors cost-efficient for the customers and energy-efficient for the end-users.

What is a Transistor, Anyway? ??

The first transistors came about in the 1940s. A transistor is a semiconductor mechanism that can amplify or switch electronic signals.

They are still one of the most craved components for electronic devices.

–It is a fundamental building block of modern electronics, says Lars. You find them in many of the electronics that we use daily. They are essential in various devices, such as our mobile phones, computers, and more.

A transistor controls the flow of the electric current. The unique vertical nanowire transistors that NordAmps have invented, have new features that are sought after in many industries, including telecom as well as the semiconductor industry.

Who Wants Transistors and For What? ?

–Companies that need transistors are among many others manufacturing consumer electronics (smartphones, laptops, tablets, televisions, and gaming consoles). They need them to make microprocessors, memory chips, and other electronic components in these devices work, says Lars.

Other companies looking for better and more efficient transistors are semiconductor companies that make semiconductor devices, including transistors, integrated circuits (ICs), and diodes.

Telecom companies also need transistors in equipment such as routers, switches, base stations, and antennas for communication networks including wired, wireless, and satellite communication systems.

–We are working with different clients to learn how to best match our solution to their needs, says Lars.

Potential customers are companies working with communication infrastructure. The transistors are used in 5G & 6G, satellite communication, sensor applications, self-driving cars communicating with other cars without delay, smart city solutions, AI data processing…

The circuits that one can make with NordAmps’ transistors allow for a very low level of noise.

After years of improving the technology together with key semiconductor players, NordAmps is on its way to offering its technology to the semiconductor market. The innovation has been designed to address customers’ high-frequency requirements. ?

To summarise, the value that the new transistors add, in terms of higher performance - for customers is that they get up to 50 % higher frequency and can save up to 50 % of energy depending on in which applications the technology will be used.

What Happens Now: Proving the Concept

–To prove our products, we work with foundries and in partnerships with cutting-edge partners. We need perfect results to accelerate our commercialization, says Lars.

To protect their innovation, NordAmps has validated several patents, and a few others are in process.

Developing the Business Model

NordAmps targets players in the semiconductor industry and will aim to license out its technology as an addition to customers' processes – ‘technology transfer’ – to make a royalty on the circuits made using their technology. The company will charge for manufactured chips.

www.nordamps.com

NanoLund The Faculty of Engineering at Lund University #nanoelectronics #nano #engineering #transistors #semiconductors

Christina (Cece) Geijer af Ekstr?m with Lars Tilly, CEO NordAmps for @Ideon S