Semiconductor company Archer Materials (ASX: AXE) has made notable technology development progress with its 12CQ quantum chip and its Biochip lab-on-a-chip technology.

To progress the 12CQ chip development, Archer designed, developed and built a new type of device called a pulsed electron spin resonance (p-ESR) chip. Archer was able to leverage the expertise of Swiss-based research partner École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) to achieve this significant feat of innovation.

The goal of the 12CQ project is to make quantum technology, including quantum computing, more accessible. Currently, the temperature and energy demands to operate quantum processor chips make them impractical for modern devices. There are only a few platforms that appear to have the potential for quantum processing at both room temperature and pressure, which includes Archer’s 12CQ technology. More practical quantum processor technologies could potentially pave the way for use in mobile devices.

Archer and EPFL plan to use the p-ESR system to perform complex measurements that involve the potential electron spin manipulation of Archer’s 12CQ quantum materials. These measurements would be early validation points for the technologies viability in quantum processing, especially being on a chip and if performed in practical conditions. The p-ESR chip is tiny, measuring only 0.7mm² in size.

To highlight the potential of the p-ESR chip for precision sensing in portable electronic devices, the thorough technical details of the p-ESR chip were made publicly available. Archer have also stated that they are protecting the p-ESR technology intellectual property with a provisional patent. The microsystem’s miniaturisation and electron spin sensitivity would also allow Archer to explore opportunities in developing quantum sensors, advanced spectrometers, and analytical devices.

Together with its 12CQ quantum chip, the Company is progressing with its lab-on-a-chip technology, the Biochip.

Archer’s Executive Chairman, Greg English, said, “During the Quarter, the Archer team significantly reduced the size of the Biochip by redesigning the circuit layout. The miniaturised chips will undergo wafer dicing, assembly, packaging, and electrical testing. The substantial reduction in the size of the Biochip was an outstanding achievement by our CEO, Dr Mohammad Choucair, and the Archer team.”

Archer applies the ‘fabless’ chipmaker model by designing, researching, and developing its chips while outsourcing manufacturing to specialised companies in the semiconductor supply chain. This includes creating a new miniaturised Biochip chip design, sending the design for a whole wafer run in a commercial foundry, and then deciding on the chip assembly, semiconductor device electronics packaging and related electrical testing.

Archer’s Biochip innovation aims to integrate graphene field effect transistors (or gFETs) into advanced fluidic systems to create miniaturised lab-on-a-chip device platforms for medical diagnostics. This would allow the operator of the chip, or the data recipient, to detect more information from a single sample.

Archer has so far significantly redesigned its circuit layouts to miniaturise the gFET chip design from 10 mm² to 1.5 mm². Each gFET chip contains multiple gFETs, each of which is a transistor and acts as a sensor. The sensors are being designed for electronic readout and device integration to sense signs of disease in a liquid.

The new Biochip designs were sent for fabrication at Applied Nanolayers, a foundry in the Netherlands, with plans for the produced wafers to be processed, i.e. diced and assembled, in Japan by Archer’s newly established outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT) partner, AOI Electronics.

English added, “We were able to progress the 12CQ and Biochip projects by continuing our strategy of partnering with overseas experts. European-based Applied Nanolayers and EPFL have the people, technology, and equipment that allow Archer to progress our project cost-effectively.”

Archer also established a multidisciplinary laboratory closer to home at Cicada Innovations in Sydney, Australia. It outgrew its previous laboratory arrangements in the University of Sydney Hardware Lab. The new laboratory facility supports Archer’s R&D activities, including hardware testing, analysis, and materials chemistry and engineering capabilities.

The packaged miniature Biochip gFET chips are anticipated to be delivered in 2024. The company ended the quarter with A$20 million in cash and no debt.