Australian semiconductor company Archer Materials (ASX: AXE) has taken a major step forward towards the commercialisation of its biosensing graphene transistor technology with the transfer of its chip designs to a commercial foundry to initiate a production run.

The company’s partnerships with international semiconductor fabs have advanced this year, with Archer having completed its optical lithography-compatible chip layout for its gFET device, which will allow the biochip’s sensor design to scale more easily to produce complete wafers in collaboration with these commercial foundries.

Archer’s graphene transistor represents the cutting-edge in the field of biosensors, offering potential for applications in medical diagnostics and various other industries. The transistor leverages the unique properties of graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of carbon, to detect and amplify the biological signals with high sensitivity and accuracy.

By submitting the transistor design to a commercial foundry, Archer Materials aims to initiate a small production run that will assess the reliability of the chip layout for integration into complete wafers. This small-scale production run will serve as a crucial evaluation phase, allowing the company to gather data on the transistor’s performance, durability, and manufacturability while also strengthening ties with commercial foundries that can manufacture the product at commercial scale.

Archer is no stranger to commercial foundries with the Company having worked with GlobalFoundries since 2022 and begun working with TSMC this year, two of the semiconductor manufacturers in the world for Archer’s 12CQ chip, a separate development program aiming to commercialise a quantum computing chip in parallel to the biochip program.

The biochip’s ability to detect and analyse biological signals with unparalleled precision and sensitivity holds immense promise for the medical field, enabling early disease detection and personalised healthcare.

“Archer has made some impressive progress of its biochip by essentially transferring the core sensing technology from concept to design,” said Archer CEO, Dr Mohammad Choucair.

“We have done this in-house and now look to have it externally fabricated, so it can be foundry compatible and scaled to manufacture. The team is also currently improving its functionality to better detect diseases.”

The transistor’s integration into complete wafers will facilitate large-scale production and open avenues for integration into existing electronic devices, biosensing platforms, and lab-on-a-chip systems.

As Archer progresses its foundry discussions to advance through the production run, the company is aiming for delivery of chips before the end of 2023. Subsequent testing phases will then take place to verify the production and its biosensing applications. Such testing may include detection, monitoring and response to biological signals which are commonly precursors to disease.

“Developing the biochip is an important project for not only Archer, but for the broader world we live in,” added Dr Choucair.

“There is a heightened focus around the globe to detect and prevent disease.

“Archer’s biochip aims to do both through a highly sensitive graphene material and powerful data analytics that seeks to improve on-chip disease diagnosis and health outcomes. This will truly make it a ‘Lab-on-a-Chip’.”

Production of Archer’s biosensing graphene transistor is a significant step towards realising the widespread adoption of biochip technology, pushing the boundaries of advanced materials.

With Archer’s biosensing graphene transistor taking another step towards commercialisation, a future where accurate, reliable, and portable biochips are an everyday reality is within reach.