Quinas Secures £1.1m Investment to Propel ULTRARAM Industrialization

In an exciting collaboration, the Lancaster University spinout firm Quinas, along with global semiconductor company IQE, and Lancaster and Cardiff Universities, has been awarded a £1.1M project by Innovate UK. This project marks the first step towards achieving volume production of ULTRARAM, the universal computer memory invented by Lancaster Physics Professor Manus Hayne.

ULTRARAM is truly a game-changer in the world of computer memory. It combines the non-volatility of data storage memory, like flash, with the speed, energy-efficiency, and endurance of working memory, like DRAM. It’s like having the best of both worlds! And now, with this funding, Quinas will lead the charge in coordinating this ambitious project.

The majority of the funding will be allocated to IQE, where they will scale up the manufacture of compound semiconductor layers from Lancaster University to an industrial process at their Cardiff-based firm. This is no small feat, as it involves IQE developing advanced capabilities for the growth of compound semiconductors gallium antimonide and aluminium antimonide for the very first time.

This project comes on the heels of significant investments in the UK semiconductor industry and the establishment of the world’s first compound semiconductor cluster in South Wales. It’s clear that the UK is positioning itself as a major player in this field.

Professor Hayne, the mastermind behind ULTRARAM, expressed his delight at Innovate UK’s support and IQE’s commitment to mass production. He sees ULTRARAM as a tremendous economic opportunity for the UK, with its potential to revolutionize computing and bring about significant energy savings and carbon emission reductions.

The global memory chip market is projected to reach a staggering $320 billion by 2030. However, the UK currently has no stake in it. With ULTRARAM, Professor Hayne believes that this could change. It’s not just about economic gains; it’s about the UK’s national and global standing in cutting-edge fields.

Lancaster University’s Head of Research Commercialisation, Jessica Wenmouth, expressed her delight in supporting Quinas on their journey to scale up this Lancaster-led innovation. She emphasized the importance of collaborations like these in bringing new products to market and driving investment into the UK for emerging technologies.

So, what exactly does this one-year project entail? The goal is to industrialize the process by scaling up ULTRARAM wafer diameters from 3″ at Lancaster to 6″ at IQE. To achieve this, they will be using the mainstream production technique of metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE), also known as metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), instead of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), which is typically used in universities.

Professor Hayne explained that Lancaster will perform some initial MBE epitaxy as a control/template for industrial growth. Their main role will be to characterize the antimonide material grown at IQE. Once they confirm sufficient quality, they will fabricate and test ULTRARAM memory on small areas of the wafers from IQE.

But that’s not all! Lancaster will also continue their work on scaling ULTRARAM by reducing the size of individual devices and making larger arrays. This aligns with the famous “Moore’s law” of shrinking devices and increasing array sizes. The next stage will be to demonstrate fabrication on a complete 8″ wafer and then translate the process to an industrial one suitable for a semiconductor Foundry.

ULTRARAM relies on quantum resonant tunneling to achieve its extraordinary properties. It is implemented in compound semiconductors commonly used in photonic devices like LEDs, laser diodes, and infrared detectors. However, it hasn’t been widely used in digital electronics, which is dominated by silicon. ULTRARAM’s potential to disrupt the digital electronics landscape is immense.

This Innovate UK project is not only a significant step towards realizing the full potential of ULTRARAM, but it also showcases the power of collaboration between academia and industry. It’s a shining example of how strategic grant funding and private equity investment can work together to bring groundbreaking innovations to market.

With projects like these, the UK is well on its way to becoming a global leader in cutting-edge technologies. And who knows, maybe in the near future, ULTRARAM will become a household name, revolutionizing the way we think about computer memory.

Technology Explained

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Foundry: A foundry is a dedicated manufacturing facility focused on producing semiconductor components like integrated circuits (ICs) for external clients. These foundries are pivotal in the semiconductor industry, providing diverse manufacturing processes and technologies to create chips based on designs from fabless semiconductor firms or other customers. This setup empowers companies to concentrate on innovative design without needing substantial investments in manufacturing infrastructure. Some well-known foundries include TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), Samsung Foundry, GlobalFoundries, and UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation).