Singapore’s Nexstrom wants to bring 2D semiconductors to chip fabs

Nexstrom, a Singapore startup spun out of Xora Innovation, is building equipment intended to grow transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) — materials just a few atomic layers thick — directly on standard chip wafers. The company says its North Star system is designed for 300mm (12-inch) wafers used in commercial semiconductor manufacturing, with the goal of enabling foundries to integrate these ultra-thin materials into transistor processes. The firm argues that TMDs, often grouped with “2D materials” because of their extreme thinness, could help address scaling problems that arise as silicon transistors shrink, such as leakage, power loss and heat. Major industry players and research centres including TSMC, Intel, Belgium’s IMEC, and equipment firms like AIXTRON and CDimension are all working on ways to incorporate 2D materials into chips, and demonstrations by TSMC, ASML and IMEC have shown 2D-material transistors in a 300mm integration flow. Nexstrom’s technical approach builds on research by co-founder and chief scientist Lance Li, who led post-silicon electronics research at TSMC and has worked on 2D materials since 2012. The company says it has moved through a staged scale-up of wafer sizes — from 2 inches to 6 inches — and reports having installed and produced material results on a 12-inch system. The team expects to complete 8-inch and 12-inch scaling work by the end of October, according to CEO Phoebe Tan. To advance development and move its equipment closer to commercial readiness, Nexstrom announced a $12 million seed round led by investors including Xora, Foothill Ventures and SEEDS, bringing total funding to $15 million. The company says some industry players are already testing samples of its wafers and materials, though it declined to identify those testers. Nexstrom plans to use the funding to refine process control and measurement, expand staff, and support qualification programs with potential customers, and it currently targets commercial production readiness in the 2030–2035 timeframe.