Semiconductor company Archer Materials (ASX: AXE) has just hit a new milestone: an upgrade for its gFET (graphene field effect transistor) biochip design, aimed to enhance disease detection and control. This comes just a few weeks after it engaged with commercial foundry partners in Germany to begin a multi-project wafer run (an ‘MPW’) of the previous design.

This latest development milestone is aimed at enabling the biochip to test for multiple diseases using liquid samples all on one chip that can be manufactured at large scale, with the possibility of reusing the chip. Additionally, Archer has made the biochip system more efficient by introducing automated data analysis, allowing end users to extract high-quality data with greater ease.

The design has been sent to a commercial foundry partner in the Netherlands for a whole four-inch wafer run for validation.

The new and improved design represents a significant achievement in the process of commercialising Archer’s biochip, as it holds the potential to empower end-users to detect multiple diseases with significant accuracy, leveraging the unique properties of graphene.

CEO of Archer, Dr Mohammad Choucair, said, “Archer continues to build on the core of its biochip technology, the gFET, and this more advanced design not only improves the chip’s detection and control abilities for multiple diseases from one single chip, but it also extends its use-time and brings it closer towards commercialisation.”

Archer is a semiconductor company making strides in the quantum computing and medical diagnostics industries. Besides the biochip, the company is also developing its ¹²CQ chip to enable quantum computing capabilities on-device and at room temperature.

On July 13, 2023, Archer Materials announced that its initial system platform, comprising first-generation hardware and software, was tailored to operate using a chip containing single isolated gFETs as sensors. The choice of gFETs was due to their highly sensitive nature in detecting analytes. These surpass the capabilities of traditional electronic sensors found in current lab-on-a-chip devices.

Now, with the introduction of Archer’s latest gFET design, a new era appears to have arrived for the biochip system platform. This advanced gFET design would enable a biochip technology with single-device multiplexing.

The gFET design incorporates functional surfaces and components that serve both as sensors and controls for the biochip platform. Additionally, the integration of gFET design components enables real-time fine-tuning and control of the electronic properties of the graphene. This advantageous feature could allow for the development of re-usable biosensors, extending the lifespan of the devices.

The automated testing platform efficiently handles both control software and readout hardware with improved efficiency. Additionally, the software is being advanced to incorporate automated data analysis, allowing end users to extract high-quality data with ease.

Choucair added, “We continue to add to our strategic partnerships within the semiconductor supply chain, and our new foundry partner, which has the new gFET design in hand for a whole wafer run, represents a key step in this path to commercialising the biochip.”

The earlier design has been sent to a commercial foundry in Germany for a MPW run, and the finalised devices from both designs are anticipated to be received before the end of 2023.

Archer’s advanced gFET device design and commercial foundry wafer run exemplify its strategy toward a streamlined commercialisation model, closely following the ‘fabless’ approach. This means that Archer concentrates on chip design and development while outsourcing manufacturing to specialised foundries while remaining the owner of the tech’s intellectual property.

The partnership strategy allows Archer to maintain a strong cash position, which currently stands at $23.3 million with no debt, without incurring any large capital expenses to build its own manufacturing facilities.