Paragraf, a Cambridge University spin-out, is building the world’s first commercial foundry for graphene electronic devices, scaling up from 2-inch to 6-inch wafers to meet surging customer demand. Graphene—a single layer of carbon atoms—conducts electricity and heat far better than silicon, but manufacturing reliable, commercially viable devices has proven extremely difficult. Paragraf claims to have solved this by adapting standard semiconductor processes, and its first product, a Hall-effect magnetic sensor, already outperforms existing technologies in automotive battery monitoring and current sensing. The company expects demand to reach millions of devices from 2025 onward, with a graphene transistor for biosensor applications now receiving pre-orders. This project transfers the 6-inch wafer production from Paragraf’s R&D site to a new foundry, then subjects the devices to industry-standard reliability testing and cryogenic testing—never before performed on graphene devices. The Universities of Glasgow and Birmingham will conduct advanced testing, while Cupio Ltd. will help transfer novel reliability tests to an industrial facility. The UK Electronics Skills Foundation will also run a feasibility study to address the skills gap for technicians needed to support this new manufacturing sector. If successful, this foundry could finally bring graphene’s exceptional properties into commercial electronics, sensors, and medical diagnostics, building a UK supply chain for a technology long promised but rarely delivered.
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Paragraf is the first company in the world to produce graphene-based electronic devices using standard semiconductor processes. Paragraf has grown rapidly since spinning out from Cambridge University in 2017, developing and selling its first graphene based Hall-effect magnetic sensor devices in 2019\. Since then, Paragraf's sample products that have generated huge interest, particularly in the automotive market for battery monitoring and current sensing at a sensitivity and accuracy not possible with other technologies. Paragraf has just completed an IUK feasibility grant into scaling up its graphene technology from 2" wafers to 6" wafers, due to increased customer demand. The feedback from customers is extremely positive and Paragraf expects demand for products to increase rapidly to millions of devices from 2025 onwards. Paragraf is also now receiving pre-orders for its next product, a graphene transistor to primarily serve biosensor applications. Paragraf's vision now is to set up the first 2D materials device foundry in the world, focusing first on graphene.This is due to the extraordinarily large number of device applications that can be served with its proprietary growth technology, and crucially that all devices produced up work excellently and are commercially viable. Paragraf has just opened its second UK site: this site will become the foundry, with the original, smaller site focusing on R&D. This project aims to transfer the 6" graphene growth technology from the R&D site to the foundry, to manufacture devices from these 6" wafers, to investigate failure mechanisms of these novel devices, and to perform industry standard reliability testing of the devices. For this, Paragraf will partner with the Universities of Glasgow and Birmingham. Each will perform advanced testing of the graphene devices created. The reliability testing and cryogenic testing proposed has never before been done for graphene devices. Cupio Ltd. will work with Glasgow to transfer novel reliability tests to its device test facilities, thus providing an industrial test partner to service the new foundry. The UKESF will be a key partner on this project. There is an acknowledged skills gap for technicians to support the scale-up of manufacturing. The UKESF will perform a feasibility study to identify future skills needs and deliver a 'proof-of-concept' training course, to provide a solution to the skills gap this new UK industry. With Paragraf's core technology, and with these partners, we will build a foundry and the requisite UK supply chain to finally bring graphene's excellent properties to market.
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