A Phoenix-based startup plans to advance its semiconductor technology through a new public-private partnership with university researchers.
Crystal Sonic, which develops materials processing technology to reduce waste and costs in the semiconductor industry, is joining the Partnership for Economic Innovation’s Applied Research Center, the company announced Friday.
In its announcement, Arno Merkle, CEO of Crystal Sonic, said the collaboration with the research center will open up new opportunities for the company, working with experts at Arizona State to reduce costs and waste production and establish parameters for industry standards in this area.
As a cohort member of the Applied Research Center, Crystal Sonic will conduct process tests and feasibility studies on its product prototype.
The company's Sonic Lift-Off acoustic bass technique uses sound waves to cut and lift off thin crystal wafers used in semiconductor device fabrication, leaving behind bulk substrate for reuse. The process allows chip manufacturers to dramatically lower cost and waste, while improving sustainability, according to the company.
Crystal Sonic is focused on what it describes as an “emerging class” of chips based on wide bandgap semiconductors, which are used in electric vehicles, solar panel inverters, sensors and radio frequency communication devices.
The company, which has eight employees, is making “great progress” with expanding its Sonic Lift-Off technology to silicon carbide wafers and devices over the past few months, Merkle told AZ Inno.
“Feedback from customers has been highly encouraging, and we are establishing working partnerships across the space this year,” Merkle said. “We have also recently completed the design of our second-generation prototype, which will give us additional flexibility in tuning the Sonic Lift-off process for various wafer and device types in the future.”
Crystal Sonic’s target customers include semiconductor material suppliers, device manufacturers and equipment manufacturers.
Crystal Sonic’s patented technology originates from Arizona State University’s Defect Engineering for Energy Conversion Technologies lab, which is led by professor Mariana Bertoni, who had an idea to use sound to cut materials for solar photovoltaics and reduce waste.
Bertoni and a group of doctoral students, including Pablo Guimerá Coll — a co-founder of Crystal Sonic — turned the idea into a demonstration in the lab. The co-founders worked with ASU and Skysong Innovations to further develop the technology and obtain a patent for it. In 2018, Crystal Sonic was born.
PEI’s Applied Research Center aims to advance technology projects from ideation to research validation and commercialization. Project leaders collaborate with experts at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona to develop technologies for wearable products, and the medtech, cleantech and semiconductor industries.
“This Arizona technology will drive economic growth as chips are increasingly ubiquitous across communications, computing, healthcare, transportation, clean energy, and others,” Kathleen Lee, director of Applied Research Centers for PEI, said in a statement.
Crystal Sonic to participate in pitch competitions
Crystal Sonic is among 10 finalists selected for the Lam Capital Venture Competition, which takes place June 3 in Fremont, California. Companies will pitch their semiconductor-related businesses to a panel of judges for a chance to win $250,000 from Lam Capital.
What’s more, the company was named a finalist for the Semiconductor Industry Association’s national pitch competition, set for July 10-12 at Semicon West in San Francisco.
Last year, Crystal Sonic moved into Connect Labs by Wexford, on the fifth floor of the 850 PBC building, part of the Phoenix Bioscience Core, a 30-acre life sciences innovation district in downtown Phoenix.
It also landed an $850,000 grant as part of NASA’s SBIR Ignite program to upscale its Sonic Lift-Off technology for space photovoltaics over a 15-month period, AZ Inno previously reported.
Earlier this year, the startup was part of Plug & Play’s Batch 2 cohort for the AccelerateAZ Advanced Manufacturing program.
