U.K. startup Paragraf has successfully produced the first 6-inch graphene wafer at its manufacturing facility in Huntingdon, England.
The wafer contains graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs) fabricated using Paragraf’s process technology where graphene is grown directly on silicon. The company calls it a significant step toward scalable graphene electronics and is claimed to be the first demonstration of GFETs on silicon using a direct growth approach for a 6-inch wafer.
The production comes after Pargraf produced GFETs on 2-inch sapphire wafers.
According to the company, other GFETs on silicon typically rely on transferring graphene from a growth substrate. Instead, Paragraf’s direct-on-silicon process preserves material purity and device integrity which opens better compatibility with mainstream chip manufacturing.
“This first 6-inch wafer out of our Huntingdon facility is a landmark moment for Paragraf,” said Simon Thomas, co-founder and CEO of Paragraf. “It demonstrates both the maturity of our graphene growth technology and our ability to scale it on industry-relevant substrates, while maintaining the contamination-free advantages of our approach required by many applications and customers.”
Moving to 6-inch wafers is a milestone that allows Paragraf to:
- Enable higher throughput
- Improved uniformity
- Closer alignment with mainstream chip fab infrastructure
- Accelerate the development of scalable graphene electronic/sensing devices
