MINATEC in figures

Startup Antaios, a Spintec spinoff that holds patents to a SOT*-MRAM memory technology, has just raised $11 million in fresh capital. The influx of funds will help scale the technology up from lab demonstrator to manufacturable system. Antaios is partnering with Applied Materials on the scaleup project.Antaios was founded in 2017 in the wake of winning the grand prize in the 2016 i-Lab innovation competition. The company opted for a fabless business model and will partner with manufacturers to build… More information

The Covid-19 pandemic has not kept startups commercializing MINATEC technologies from raising funds. From June to September six MINATEC startups announced fundraising rounds for a total of €38 million in fresh capital.MagIA Diagnostics (€3 million) is now positioned to scale up its portable HIV and hepatitis B and C screening device. Apix Analytics (€5 million) will ramp up business development efforts to expand sales of its multi-gas detectors. Elichens (€6 million) will begin volume manufacturing of its gas sensors. Aryballe… More information

CEA-Leti and Inserm* researchers developed a polymer microneedle patch to treat sun-related skin cancer without surgery. The hundreds of tiny needles are applied to the lesion. They dissolve in less than an hour and, in the process, deliver a drug, which, when exposed to light, is activated and destroys malignant cells.The researchers determined the optimal needle size and spacing and developed a chemical-free fabrication process. The needles’ length can be adjusted from 400 microns to 750 microns, making treatment pain… More information

Effective September 1, the CEA is coordinating the €15 million EU QLSI project. The goal is to lay the groundwork for the scaleup of tomorrow’s CMOS quantum computing technologies. An impressive nineteen stakeholders are engaged in this project. They include France’s CNRS, Bull, STMicroelectronics, and Soitec and European research organizations TUDelft and IMEC.Other technologies—optics, superconductors, and trapped ions—have been used to demonstrate the concepts. While CMOS is far behind on a key parameter, fidelity, the technology does enable high integration… More information