As more funding flows into deep technology to tackle tough global problems like climate change, entrepreneurial PhDs from Europe’s top universities and labs are increasingly turning their research into companies.
French spinout Diamfab, founded in 2019, is one example. Its co-founders, CEO Gauthier Chicot and CTO Khaled Driche, PhDs in nanoelectronics and recognized researchers in the field of semiconducting diamond, left the Institut Néel, a laboratory of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), with two licensed patents in the zone their.
Since then, Chicot and Driche have filed more patents and brought on a third co-founder, Ivan Llaurado, as chief revenue officer and director of partnership. They also raised a funding round of €8.7 million from Asterion VenturesBpifrance’s French Tech Seed capital, Cry, Better angle, hello tomorrow and Grenoble Alpes Métropole.
This interest comes because the paradigm around semiconducting diamonds has changed over the past couple of years. “Diamonds are no longer a laboratory object: They have become an industrial reality, with startups, with manufacturers interested in this field and with the partners we have around us,” Chicot told TechCrunch.
Leaving the lab
Silicon is still the most widely used semiconductor material in electronics because it is ubiquitous and cheap. But there is hope that other options could one day overcome it, and not just in the labs. Tesla’s decision to use silicon carbide instead of silicon was a major step in that direction, and diamond could be next.
Because diamond is naturally more resistant to high temperatures and more energy efficient, Diamfab envisions a future in which a given component will need 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 lower carbon footprint, while also supporting what Chicot refers to as “society electrification,” starting with transportation.
Diamond-based electronics open the door to power electronics applications — think smaller batteries and longer-range chargers because less temperature control is required, which is especially important for the automotive sector and electric mobility. But diamond wafers could also be used for nuclear batteries, space technology and quantum computers.
The case for diamond as a better alternative to silicon doesn’t come out of nowhere. Diamfab builds on the Néel Institute’s 30 years of research and development in the development of synthetic diamonds. Its founders wanted to get this technology out of the lab. “We wanted to be useful pioneers,” Chicot said.
The awarding of the i-Lab Jury Grand Prize in 2019 was a turning point for the company. Co-organized by French foundations, it brought grants and a sense of validation that helped the team in and out.
With that stamp of approval, “banks trust you even if you don’t make sales,” Chicot said. “It was a real plus in the beginning to receive this award. And it was partly because we have great technology and partly because it’s the technology that’s vital to the world.”
The diamond promises
French public sector investment bank Bpifrance, one of the organizers of the i-Lab awards, is doubling Diamfab with funding from the French Tech Seed fund, managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the French government as part of the France 2030 plan.
When silicon is commoditized, Diamfab’s high-value-added diamond wafers could be manufactured in Europe and sold at a premium guaranteed by their higher performance, which is also linked to the green transition. Carbonization is a key objective France 2030and diamonds could help.
Their carbon footprint would be lighter because of the smaller surface area required by diamond compared to silicon carbide, but also because Diamfab synthesizes its diamonds from methane. In the future, that source could be biomethane, giving this recycling by-product a commercial outlet.
Image Credits: Diamfab
Most of these, however, are still in the future. Diamfab is not decades away from its goals, but says it will take five years before its technology can support mass production of diamond wafers that meet industry demands. That means using its expertise in growing and doping diamond layers on one-inch wafers and applying it to the four-inch wafers on which silicon carbide already works. Even with sufficient funding to support a small pilot production line, this will take a few years.
That five-year horizon made Diamfab prohibitive for some VCs. While these may be in line with the idea of re-industrializing Europe with cutting-edge innovations, their liquidity cycles make these types of investments more difficult. But Chicot eventually managed to round up the €8.7 million that will help the startup through the pre-industrialization phase.
Grenoble, a hub of deep technology
The group of investors that has rallied around Diamfab is “balanced,” Chicot said, including public sector players, hedge fund Asterion Ventures and supporters of Diamfab’s Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and the city of Grenoble.
While there is justified hype around artificial intelligence in Paris, Grenoble may be the closest thing to a French Silicon Valley. Thanks to the Nobel Prize winning physicist Louis Néelof the city of the Alps focus on electronics turned it into a deep technology hub This is now part of the conversation for both green and mainstream technology.
Grenoble startups that come to mind are Verkor, which secured more than €2 billion for its giant plant in northern France, and Renaissance Fusion, which raised $16.4 million last year to build nuclear fusion technology in Europe. However, 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 out of the French Alps. As both the EU and the US adopted Chip Acts to reduce their reliance on Asia, France is set to provide Aid of 2.9 billion euros about STMicroelectronics’ upcoming joint factory with GlobalFoundries and Soitec recently opened a fourth factory near. Now Diamfab hopes it can also play a role and unleash the full potential of diamond in semiconductors.
