As more funding flows into deep tech to tackle tough global problems like climate change, PhD entrepreneurs coming out of Europe’s top universities and labs are increasingly turning their research into companies.
french spinout Diamfab, founded in 2019, is an example. Its co-founders, CEO Gauthier Chicot and CTO Khaled Driche, both PhDs in nanoelectronics and renowned researchers in the field of semiconductor diamond, left the Institut Néel, a laboratory of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), with two patents under license . his belt.
Since then, Chicot and Driche have filed more patents and hired a third co-founder, Ivan Llaurado, as chief revenue officer and head of partnerships. They also raised a financing round of 8.7 million euros from Asterion VenturesBpifrance French technological seed background, kreaxi, best angle, Hello morning and Grenoble Alpes Métropole.
This interest arises because the paradigm around semiconductor diamonds has changed in the last two years. “Diamonds are no longer a laboratory topic: they have become an industrial reality, with new companies, with manufacturers interested in this field and with the partners we have around us,” Chicot told TechCrunch.
Leave the laboratory
Silicon remains the most widely used semiconductor material in electronics because it is ubiquitous and cheap. But there is hope that someday other options can surpass it, and not just in laboratories. Tesla’s decision to use silicon carbide instead of silicon was an important step in that direction, and diamond could be next.
Since diamond is naturally more resistant to high temperatures and more energy efficient, Diamfab envisions a future in which a given component will require a much smaller surface area of synthetic diamond than silicon carbide, making it price competitive.
The company’s long-term goal is to make more efficient semiconductors with a smaller carbon footprint while supporting what Chicot calls “the electrification of society,” starting with transportation.
Diamond-based electronics open the door to applications in the field of power electronics: think of smaller batteries and chargers with longer autonomy, because less temperature control is required, which is particularly relevant for the automotive and industrial sector. electric mobility. But diamond wafers could also be used for nuclear batteries, space technology and quantum computing.
The argument for diamond as a better alternative to silicon doesn’t come out of nowhere; Diamfab builds on Institut Néel’s 30 years of R&D for the growth of synthetic diamonds. Its founders wanted to take this technology out of the laboratory. “We wanted to be useful pioneers,” Chicot said.
Be award-winning The i-Lab Grand Jury Prize in 2019 was a turning point for the firm. Co-organized by French institutions, it provided grants and a sense of validation that helped the team in and out.
With this seal of quality, “banks trust you even if you don’t generate sales,” said Chicot. “At first it was a real advantage to receive this award. And it was partly because we have great technology and partly because it is technology that is crucial to the world.”
diamond promises
The French public investment bank Bpifrance, one of the organizers of the i-Lab awards, is betting on Diamfab with financing from the French Tech Seed fund, which Bpifrance manages on behalf of the French government within the framework of the France 2030 plan.
When silicon has become a commodity, Diamfab’s high value-added diamond wafers could be manufactured in Europe and sold at a higher price guaranteed by their higher efficiency, which also ties into the green transition. Decarbonization is a key objective of France 2030and diamonds could help.
Its carbon footprint would be lower due to the smaller surface area diamond requires compared to silicon carbide, but also because Diamfab synthesizes its diamonds from methane. In the future, this source could be biomethane, providing a commercial outlet for this recycling byproduct.
Image credits: Diamfab
However, most of this is still in the future. Diamfab is not decades away from achieving its goals, but says it will take five years for its technology to support mass production of diamond wafers that meet industry requirements. This means taking their knowledge of growing and doping diamond layers on one-inch wafers and applying it to the four-inch wafers that silicon carbide already works on. Even with enough funds to support a small pilot production line, this will take a few years.
This five-year horizon made Diamfab a no-go option for some venture capitalists; While they may sympathize with the idea of reindustrializing Europe with cutting-edge innovation, their liquidity cycles make these types of investments difficult. But Chicot finally managed to raise the 8.7 million euros that will help the startup overcome its pre-industrialization phase.
Grenoble, a deep technological center
The group of investors who have coalesced around Diamfab is “balanced,” Chicot said, and includes public actors, the permanent fund Asterion Labs, and supporters of Diamfab’s region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and its city of Grenoble.
While there is justified exaggeration around AI in Paris, Grenoble may be the closest place to a French Silicon Valley. Largely thanks to Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Neelthe alpine city focus on electronics turned it into a deep technology center That is now also part of the conversation about both green technology and sovereign technology.
Among the Grenoble startups that come to mind is Verkor, which managed to more than 2 billion euros for its gigafactory in northern France, and Renaissance Fusion, which raised $16.4 million last year for build nuclear fusion technology in Europe. But Diamfab can benefit more from its partnerships with larger players with local ties, including CEA, Schneider Electric, Soitec and STMicroelectronics.
There is no doubt that more semiconductors will come from the French Alps. As both the EU and the US adopted Chip Acts To reduce its dependence on Asia, France is preparing to provide 2.9 billion euros in aid for the upcoming joint factory of STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries, and Soitec recently opened a fourth factory nearby. Now Diamfab hopes to also play a role and unlock the full potential of diamond in semiconductors.