Chip tech innovator shortlisted for European inventors prize

At Nanomation, the startup founded during her PhD studies at Cambridge, Potočnik and colleagues developed an automated software platform enhancing precision in manufacturing nanomaterial-based semiconductor chips, the Munich-based EPO announced.

It explained that improving performance is harder as chips shrink. Nanomaterials like graphene offer potential, but large-scale integration remains difficult.

"New materials, such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, and quantum dots, are very difficult to incorporate into large-scale semiconductor production," Potočnik elaborated in an interview with Forbes Slovenia.

Her LithoTag solution tackles this challenge: "Our solution addresses this problem by embedding unique markers onto semiconductor chips, thereby enabling the efficient integration of new materials," she explained. This automation software combines nanometre positioning and computation, paving the way for faster, more energy-efficient devices, the EPO noted.

The invention aims to bridge the gap between research and industrial application. "Even during my undergraduate studies, I saw a big gap between university research and industrial application...I founded Nanomation to bridge this gap," Potočnik said.

This approach could enable advanced semiconductor technologies for faster, smaller, more energy-efficient products like advanced sensors or quantum devices.

More efficient chip manufacturing solutions like this could cut data centre energy use by around 10%. Citing World Economic Forum data, the EPO notes global data centres consume 460 TWh annually (equal to 153m households). Rising computing demand could push data centre energy use to over 3% of global CO2 emissions this year.

This breakthrough earned Potočnik and her Nanomation colleagues a place among the ten Tomorrow Shapers shortlisted for the Young Inventors Prize.

The Young Inventors Prize honours innovators under 30 tackling global challenges with technology. An independent jury selected the finalists from 450 candidates. Potočnik will receive the award at a ceremony in Iceland in mid-June.

Potočnik studied Materials Science and Engineering at Manchester after attending secondary school in Maribor. Graduating in 2020, she pursued a PhD in Nanofabrication at Cambridge.

Supported by Cambridge Enterprise, Potočnik's team filed a patent and secured funding to scale the solution. Nanomation is now actively seeking partnerships with semiconductor manufacturers.

"Reliability, repeatability, and manufacturing integration are crucial in industry," Potočnik stated, quoted by the EPO. "Even great technology has less value if it can't be scaled. We focus equally on performance, reliability, and manufacturability."