CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AKHAN Semiconductor (AKHAN/the Company), a technology company specializing in the fabrication and application of synthetic, lab-grown electronics-grade diamond materials addressing consumer industries and glass coatings, announced today that prolific technology executive Tom Lacey has added Interim CEO to his role as the Company’s Board Chairman. A four-time public company CEO, Lacey has more than three decades of experience leading both public and private companies in the licensing and technology industries.
“AKHAN is at an exciting moment in time; amidst a capital raise with a number of well-respected investors while mapping a customer-centric growth strategy,” Lacey explained. “Due to the unprecedented importance and abilities of AKHAN’s diamond technology, I fully expect the round to be oversubscribed. I’m excited to lead and align our employee, customer and investor needs.”
“We’ve done an outstanding job taking our Miraj Diamond® technology from concept to prototype, and now is the time for massive scale,” said Adam Khan, Founder AKHAN Semiconductor. “Tom, who’s onboarding marked the launch of our operational growth phase, is one of the most well respected, trusted and knowledgeable leaders in the entire technology space. We’re thrilled he’s adding CEO duties at this time; strengthening our value with customers, investors and talent in both Illinois and Silicon Valley.”
AKHAN, who’s Miraj Diamond® Glass, Optics and Electronics platform has industry altering potential, is well positioned for mass expansion. Lacey has worked across startups, mid-sized and large public and private companies and will provide AKHAN with a tremendous amount of insight and deep understanding as the Company brings its limitless Miraj Diamond® portfolio to market across consumer electronics and various industries.
“Adam Khan and his impressive team have brought significant and much needed innovation to the space. Now, it's time to unleash diamond’s immense capabilities on glass coatings, chips and optical equipment where AKHAN has impressive successes in research and customer development in all three areas.”
Lacey is a proven, successful, and high integrity executive who has worked for several premier technology companies, including Intel and Tessera/Xperi, among others. His roles have spanned positions in executive/leadership, engineering, marketing, sales, OEM, distribution, management, operations, Intellectual Property, P&L, Wall Street, and merger and acquisition areas. He brings a hands-on approach to leadership with a focused approach to short and long- term goals and strategies.
Irina Slav
Adam Khan, founder of AKHAN Semiconductor:
There are and will continue to be countless negative outcomes from the current chip shortage, but one beneficial outcome will be increased funding and support for advanced material semiconductors as an alternative to traditional silicon materials. These materials are the future of the industry and will have the ability to bring the US back to a place of technological supremacy on a global stage.
Advanced materials, like diamond, have many advantages: handling more power, taking up less space and withstanding much higher voltages and temperatures. They are also more cost effective and environmentally friendly. As the world looks for ways to bring technology into the next era, advanced materials are going to play a massive role in driving innovation within the semiconductor industry and their chance to shine begins now or in the very near future.
AKHAN Semiconductor Inc of Gurnee, Lake County, IL, USA – which specializes in the fabrication and application of synthetic, lab-grown, electronics-grade diamond as functional semiconductors – says that Dan Marrujo has joined it as a strategic board advisor. Marrujo will be collaborating with AKHAN to develop and disseminate industry innovations and best practices to government and strategic defense technology providers to improve performance and financial outcomes for their organizations.
The former chief strategy officer for the DOD (Department of Defense) DMEA (Defense Microelectronics Activity) working closely with the Trusted IC program, Marrujo has provided technical expertise on multiple DARPA, IARPA and National Security Space programs. His subject matter expertise and consulting work has contributed to the success of the USA’s semiconductor, aeronautics, military and broader electronics industries, says AKHAN.
“There’s a high mix of technology solutions integrated into today’s government that must perform in traditional and irregular environments,” says Marrujo. “There’s no doubt AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond Optics and Electronics will be applied to various tech devices to operate at higher temperatures, be faster and more powerful,” he adds.
“As needs continue to outpace advanced power, RF and microwave electronic capabilities, diamond will play a bigger role in material design,” says Adam Khan, founder. “Daniel’s experience in the optical, electronics and semiconductor industries is unique. His guidance will be invaluable to advance AKHAN’s value proposition,” he reckons.
Adam Khan
Since the ‘60s, almost all semiconductor devices have been made with silicon, showing a concerning lack of advancement for a critical technology. When you consider the leaps and bounds made in other crucial technologies, like computational power, artificial intelligence and beyond, there is a need to shift the focus to advanced materials as we look to revitalize the semiconductor industry.
For more than a year, many factors have played a part in disrupting the semiconductor supply chain and exposing its fragility, including geopolitical factors, the COVID-19 pandemic, global transportation issues and more. The extensive and endless series of unfortunate events that have wreaked havoc on the supply chain has brought microchips to the mainstage of the global economy, spurring countless mergers and acquisitions, as well as uncertainty.
Given the current state of the industry, there has never been a better time for those who want to be truly recognized as innovators and leaders in the space, to reassess their global approach and improve the industry by prioritizing the development of advanced materials. There are several reasons why the world at large stands to benefit from advanced materials when compared to industry standard silicon. With silicon, there are disadvantages and limitations in capabilities preventing the development of lighter, faster, and more energy-responsible electronics.
Advanced materials, like diamond, far outmatch silicon materials in their ability to diffuse heat, handle huge amounts of power and take up far less space. Devices relying upon advanced materials are also able to run hotter (with the ability to operate at temperatures over 300 degrees to be specific) without degrading performance, ultimately reducing the cost of cooling systems and overheating repairs. In comparison to industry-standard materials, advanced options are equipped to handle voltages that are 10 times higher and operate at over 90% increased power efficiency. They are also generally more cost effective and environmentally friendly. Compared to silicon, these alternate materials are uniquely able to isolate massive voltages with a fraction of the material, taking up less space by being 1,000 times thinner than those that use silicon.
Multiple industries stand to dramatically improve from advanced materials including Gallium Nitride (GaN), Gallium Oxide (Ga2O3) and Indium Phosphide (InP) in terms of performance and capabilities. While there are a number of materials that can improve performance, lab grown diamond has been proven to be the most optimal semiconductor material and stands to enhance capabilities across a variety of highly important and competitive industries, including aerospace, defense, automotive, consumer electronics, telecommunications and more.
Across automotive and consumer electronic industries, we’d see lighter cars that operate more efficiently, along with devices that would be thinner, lighter and more durable. Advanced materials would also aid in improving the battery life and systems for a range of devices including cameras, phones and display screens. What makes the switch to advanced materials even more appealing is the near effortless change to processes that would need to be made. Thanks to modern breakthroughs in manufacturing and fabricating, the ability to implement these new materials without overhauling existing silicon-based semiconductor manufacturing processes is possible.
In aerospace and defense avionics, hypersonic flight, guidance systems and optical systems used in satellites, lasers, telescopes and targeting systems, provide benefits and solutions to the temperature regulation difficulties inherent within these systems. Heating and cooling in aerospace is a major issue where performance is negatively impacted by electronics becoming too hot. Through the usage of advanced materials, electronics can operate at higher temperatures and fly with less weight, improving flight efficiency.
Advanced materials are also pushing the development of optical components for manned and unmanned aircrafts, like multilayer anti-reflective diamond coating systems that are ultra-hard, scratch resistant, produce high thermal activity and account for chemical and biological inertness, which are all necessary qualities when addressing optical sensing, optical detecting and craft electronics. Protective coatings using advanced materials provide an effective countermeasure to state-of-the-art direct energy weapons, including electromagnetic and high-energy laser systems. Without these protective coatings, enemy weapon systems have a greater ability to take down jets and helicopters without explosives.
Aircrafts outfitted with advanced material protective coatings specifically address various optical components when it comes to manned and unmanned aircrafts:
Optical Sensing – Current materials lack the hardness, strength and thermal shock protection needed for optical sensing applications in defense, but advanced materials protect optical components against directed energy, oxidation and debris, without adding significant system weight and without significant optical loss.
Optical Detecting – Materials typically used for detecting lack sufficient strength and thermal shock resistance to meet current defense application requirements and are in need of advanced materials that can bring the hardness, strength, high optical transmissivity, and thermal performance required to enable the next generation of detector systems.
Craft Electronics – Considered the most vulnerable electromagnetic weaponry, craft electronics are responsible for performing critical functions from supporting flight to enabling reconnaissance. Unlike materials that are commonly used, advanced materials can be directly integrated with craft electronics to keep devices operating within thermal budget and without adding extra weight.
Beyond everyday electronics, semiconductors are an important part of the technology that keeps us safe, making it clear that world leaders should take note of advanced materials for reasons other than commerce and innovation, and prioritize their development. For influential world leaders like the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and other allies in Europe and Asia, to incentivize innovation with advanced materials will enable the growth and advancements of crucial technologies, as well as world defense initiatives.
Now, more than ever, the world at large understands just how important semiconductor technology is. Shortages on automobiles, cell phones, gaming consoles and other technology that’s become part of our daily lives amplifies our awareness. But now, with the benefits of advanced materials understood, it’s time to move beyond silicon-based chips to increase capabilities and global progress.
Adam Khan
The US must prioritize the development of advanced materials to recapture leadership positions and maintain competitiveness.
Now, more than ever, the world at large understands how important semiconductor technology is due to the current shortage spurred from historical events like the COVID-19 pandemic, global transportation issues, geopolitical factors and more. These occurrences exposed the semiconductor supply chain’s fragility and propelled microchips to the forefront of the global economy. Shortages on automobiles, cell phones, gaming consoles and other technologies used daily by consumers have amplified the general public’s awareness of chips, bringing to light how critical they are to powering our favorite electronics.
Looking at the current state of the industry, silicon materials take center stage as the most widely used material, however, silicon-based chips have several disadvantages and limitations when it comes to their capabilities, hampering the development of faster, lighter and more energy responsible electronics. Now, as nations around the world reassess their global position, those who want to truly be considered as innovators and leaders in the space must switch gears and prioritize the development of advanced materials.
Using advanced materials, like diamond, in place of silicon, has many significant advantages. Advanced material semiconductors are able to handle a tremendous amount of power, take up less space than other materials and diffuse heat effectively. Using a fraction of the material, they can uniquely isolate massive voltages while taking up less space because these materials are up to 1,000 times thinner than silicon chips. Without sacrificing performance and ultimately reducing the cost of cooling systems and overheating repairs, devices using advanced materials can run hotter (with the ability to operate at temperatures over 300 degrees). Advanced options are equipped to handle voltages that are 10 times higher and operate at over 90% increased power efficiency, especially compared to industry standard materials. Generally, they are also more cost effective and even more environmentally friendly.
Gallium Nitride (GaN), Gallium Oxide (Ga2O3) and Indium Phosphide (InP) are all advanced materials that a variety of industries can use to improve their performance and capabilities including aerospace, defense, automotive, consumer electronics, telecommunications and more, however, lab-grown diamond in particular, is considered the most ideal material for semiconductors, proven to significantly enhance capabilities.
Consumer electronics and automotive industries can also see improvements from their use of advanced materials, which pave the way for the creation of electronics that are more durable and lighter and in turn, operate more efficiently. In addition, numerous devices including cameras, phones and display screens would have longer battery lives if developed using advanced material chips.
However, while switching existing processes away from widely used silicon materials may seem like a difficult task, innovations in manufacturing and fabricating allow for an easy transition where new materials can be implemented without having to overhaul the entire current semiconductor processes.
Supporting innovations in consumer electronics and automotive industries are only one aspect of where advanced materials are more beneficial as they are also key components in crucial technologies that keep us protected. Advanced semiconductor chips address the heating and cooling of electronics in aerospace and defense avionics, which has proven to be a major issue, negatively impacting performance. They also enable solutions for hypersonic flight, guidance systems and optical systems used in satellites, lasers, telescopes and targeting systems, addressing temperature regulation difficulties inherent within these systems. In addition to electronics being able to operate at higher temperatures, through the use of advanced materials, they can fly with less weight, leading to improved flight efficiency.
When looking at optical components for manned and unmanned aircrafts, advanced materials can provide protective coatings that serve as effective countermeasures to ultramodern direct energy weapons like high-energy laser and electromagnetic systems. There is a greater chance for enemy weapon systems to infiltrate jets and helicopters without the use of these protective coatings, making the case for advanced materials in aircrafts unarguable. Specifically, multilayer anti-reflexive diamond coating systems have essential qualities that address optical detecting, optical sensing and craft electronics including their ability to be scratch resistant, extra-hard, account for chemical and biological inertness and produce high thermal activity.
The United States, United Kingdom, Canada and other allies in Europe and Asia who strive to be influential world leaders in semiconductor technology must understand that there is inherent value in investing in advanced materials because of their impressive ability to drastically advance electronics. Semiconductors are only going to continue to emerge as an important part of technologies that keep the world going round. With the events of the past year propelling semiconductors onto the global stage, it’s imperative that we revitalize the semiconductor industry by reassessing our global approach and prioritizing the development of chips that use advanced materials.
Alan Patterson
Just weeks after demonstrating its ability to make 300-mm CMOS wafers using a thin layer of diamond, EE Times caught up with Akhan Semiconductor Chairman Adam Khan for a follow-up to our previous interview on the company’s prospects.
Diamond is likely to replace some special materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride in semiconductor applications for military and aerospace, according to Khan. Operation in high-temperature, high-power environments is a basic requirement for new materials that extend the performance of silicon, he said. Khan also sees new applications for diamond CMOS in the much larger automotive sector, with its own demands for operation in hot, high-power applications.
“Everything that you’ve seen in silicon carbide and gallium nitride markets can easily be a segment of diamond,” Khan said in the interview. “Those materials are not so entrenched at this point that they would be massively disruptive to the market.”
Diamond is a direct competitor to silicon carbide, he asserted. Instead of the 200°C (392°F) upper limit of silicon carbide, diamond can operate above 500°C without degradation, he noted.
The company has been making 200-mm diamond wafers since 2014 for customers such as Lockheed Martin and Honeywell. Akhan’s shift to 300-mm wafers was as necessary step to meet demand for a wider range of devices.
Many of the same challenges faced in mil-aero applications such as high temperatures apply to the automotive sector, where the overall thermal budget for engines must be reduced. Akhan is betting its shift to 300 mm will make diamond compatible with existing processes and fab lines while lowering per-unit cost to a point that is competitive—even with silicon—as soon as 2024, according to Khan.
“Since we’re doing a very thin layer of diamond, we’ve previously used a metric that is per-unit area or pound-for-pound cheaper than gallium nitride. It’s now cheaper than silicon carbide as well.
“The only material that it is not cheaper is silicon,” Khan added. “The economies of scale are so massive that, of course, diamond is still more costly than silicon. With adoption, we want to approach those price points, that diamond should be cheaper than silicon, not only in terms of performance per unit area, but also performance savings.
“We’ll be doing less mask layers. We’ll have less dense circuitry, which will accomplish greater functionality for the cost. The system cost should actually come into parity with silicon,” he argued.
Non-seismic shift
Still, diamond will not represent a “seismic shift” away from silicon, Khan acknowledged.
One major factor hindering diamond adoption is the semiconductor doping process. P-type, or boron doping, of diamond has yielded some additional conductivity, but nowhere near the achievements of silicon carbide.
N-type doping of diamond using arsenic or phosphorus, a focus of research since the 1960s, has been Akhan’s target for commercialization.
“We can now start to go after RF and power RF applications,” Khan said. The value is evident in silicon carbide, where it can operate at higher temperatures and higher power density than silicon. Diamond is far superior,” Khan claimed.
The company’s 300-mm wafer capability demonstrates that aside from the special diamond tools, other fab tools for lithography or metallization are the same as those already used in fabs.
While Akhan aims for cost parity, comparisons between silicon and diamond are not trivial for a variety of applications. Key factors include the level of doping and the number of mask levels. Diamond’s advantages include the elimination of thermal and material layers and adoption of simpler packaging.
“That’s what we’ll be doing in the coming months as we demonstrate some of these devices,” said Khan.
For now, diamond remains a niche material in that it’s significantly tied into the aerospace and military segments.
“You’re going to see a massive uptake in this, because with automotive, then comes industrial and some other use cases. Then we’re going to see a lot more adoption and I would say a lot more competition from some of the other diamond players in the world.”
R&D still resides mostly in universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford. That will contribute to the rise of new diamond market competitors, according to Khan.
Akhan expects to announce new partnerships soon with some of its existing customers. As with the startups above, Khan declined to name the partners.
“We have major customers that are pulling the technology. This really hasn’t been seen before. There haven’t been these major customers that are now directing the fabs. We’ve adopted diamond processes, and now we’re directing the fabs to utilize these processes and materials. And that’s been really the major difference maker, particularly in the last 12 months or so.”
“Customers have crossed the scale part of the equation, so that we’re able to now address specific problems, whether it be hardness, thermal or power density,” Khan said. “We work with the customers and do the proof of concept, the low-volume pilot production and then transfer technology to the fabs that actually have volume production.”
Soon, he predicted, “this will be for things like power inverters for automotive applications. I think that’s where it gets quite exciting.”
In a very short space of time, US-based Akhan Semiconductor, has signalled a clear intent to massively scale up production of its synthetic, lab-grown electronics-grade diamond materials. In late June, former president of Intel Americas, Tom Lacey, joined the company board as chairman. The semiconductor executive has also spearheaded start-ups, mid-sized and larger public and private companies, and as he says: “Now is the time to unleash diamond's immense capability on chips, as well as optical and glass coatings.”
Then, only a few weeks later, Akhan revealed it had fabricated 300 mm diamond CMOS wafers at its production facility, northern Illinois Diamond Mine 1. As Adam Khan, company founder, puts it: “From a commercial standpoint, 300 mm is the standard, and we want to show that we have these processes that can form even the most advanced chips.”
“We've transitioned from laboratory innovations to repeatable and massively scaleable processes,” he adds. “With Tom, we're moving from an entrepreneurial phase to operational growth... We want to license our materials to fabs and end-customers worldwide so they can incorporate these into their chip designs.”
Early days
Khan founded Akhan Semiconductor back in late 2012, confident that diamond could deliver excellent display glass properties for smartphone screens and optical performance for mirrors and lenses. He was also certain that diamond semiconductors could replace silicon devices and outperform wide bandgap materials including GaN and SiC.
Partnering with Argonne National Laboratory, Akhan obtained exclusive rights to license the centre's diamond carbon vapour deposition technology, which enabled nanocrystalline diamond film deposition onto wafer materials at temperatures as low as 400ºC. Combined with Akhan's co-doping method - in which devices are doped with phosphorus and nitrogen, and then doped with boron or lithium to engineer atomic distribution - the pairing looked set to fulfil Khan's hopes.
As Argonne Materials Scientist, Anirudha Sumant, said at the time: “This licensing agreement gives us the impact of a one-two punch, in which we combine Akhan's novel process to achieve efficient n-type doping in diamond with Argonne's low-temperature diamond deposition technology... This will break barriers that restricted the use of diamond thin films in the semiconductor industry to only p-type doping.”
Fast forward to today and this approach has been a success. Akhan has filed more than 40 patents worldwide, supplied its technology to Lockheed Martin, an unnamed smartphone OEM and other key industry players, and has now demonstrated the manufacture of 300 mm CMOS diamond wafers.
According to Khan: “We've done this using hot filament CVD [widely used to deposit diamond films] and get exceptionally high yield... the rejection rate has been less than 10% with wafers being rejected due to edge-to-edge film variability rather than tolerance.”
“This is a robust, scaleable process but 300mm is not our maximum size - we can grow diamond on panels even larger than this,” he adds.
The company works with an impressive range of substrates, including silicon, glass, fused silica, sapphire, SiC, GaN and other crystalline semiconductor materials, and refractory metals. Devices for automotive applications are being fabricated on either silicon or SiC substrates.
“We have patents and 'trade secret' processes for each material, including how we prepare the material, growth conditions and post-processing,” says Khan. “The seed material and chemicals used to functionalise this vary by material type, and also by material thickness, roughness or finish.”
As the Akhan founder also points out, the material's crystal size is altered depending on the applications - for example, a large grain polycrystalline material enhances carrier mobility for high power, high frequency applications. “We haven't seen the need to develop single crystal [materials] for the applications we've pursued as what we are seeing is already so much better than SiC and GaN,” he says.
Indeed, along the way, Khan and colleagues have been tracking SiC and GaN developments in the RF power sector, and fabricating MOSFETs, MESFETs, bipolar and CMOS structures that bring unprecedented power densities to this application.
“We demonstrated a working diode back in 2013 and are currently deploying technologies with Lockheed Martin... [this includes] a joint effort with our diamond-based electronics and optics on their F-35 platform,” highlights Khan.
Performance-wise, Khan says power density of his diamond semiconductors beats that of GaN and SiC, exceeding 40 W/mm, while carrier mobility hits many hundreds of cm2/Vs. Patent detail indicates a monolithically integrated diamond semiconductor to have conduction electrons with a mobility exceeding 770 cm2/Vs at 300K. “We know it's quite fast in terms of switching,” says Khan.
Khan also reckons his devices are cheaper, per dollar/cm2, than the GaN and SiC equivalent. “We only use a very thin layer of diamond - just enough for the active layer,” he says. “Then the substrate cost is just silicon - which is cheaper than GaN and SiC.”
So what now for Akhan Semiconductor and its diamond electronics? The company has historically delivered materials for aerospace and defence applications, but is now preparing to launch products into automotive applications.
“We've focused on this since 2012... we're ready to start licensing our first technologies, including power inverters, and will have them in the [automotive] market by the 2021 time-frame,” says Khan. “Once the revenues are there for the automotive side, I think consumer electronics will be next.”
Shannon Davis
AKHAN Semiconductor (AKHAN), a technology company specializing in the fabrication and application of synthetic, lab-grown electronics-grade diamond materials addressing semiconductor, telecom, and consumer industries and global markets, today showcased the ability to manufacture 300mm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) diamond wafers. An industry breakthrough, 300mm CMOS diamond wafers will enhance power handling, heat management and durability of electronics across industries with little change to fabricators’ existing manufacturing processes.
Due to its inherent properties, diamond is proven to be the most optimal semiconductor material, far outmatching the capabilities of silicon, the industry-standard material for more than six decades. To produce the world’s most advanced technologies, semiconductor fabricators traditionally rely on 300mm silicon wafers despite the fact that silicon has reached its physical limitations. As the global industry advances beyond Moore’s Law, the ability to produce 300mm diamond wafers is crucial to semiconductor fabricators, especially in advanced industries like aerospace, telecommunications, military and defense, and consumer electronics.
“The semiconductor chip shortage has been well documented this year,” said Tom Lacey, AKHAN’s Chairman of the Board. “As the U.S. plans to increase chip supply, it is also important to fabricate using the best materials available to enable the best performance.”
“AKHAN’s 300mm diamond wafer is the foundational building block that will lead to more powerful and durable devices that run cooler, and fabricators only need to make minor updates to their existing manufacturing processes,” said Adam Khan, Founder of AKHAN Semiconductor. “From weapon systems to spacecraft, the world’s most sophisticated devices and technologies stand to benefit exponentially from diamond. Now that we’ve proven the ability to manufacture this ideal material on 300mm wafers, fabricators will have access to the most optimal chip material so that their end products perform far more efficiently.”
As the United States assesses the semiconductor supply chain in light of the current global shortage and works to recapture its leadership position within this critical space, policymakers must prioritize the companies that are moving beyond silicon by innovating and developing next generation chips with materials like diamond. Beyond diamond’s advanced capabilities, U.S. adversaries understand how powerful this coveted jewel can be and are prioritizing the development of the material for advanced weapons usage.
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AKHAN Semiconductor (AKHAN/the Company), a technology company specializing in the fabrication and application of synthetic, lab-grown electronics-grade diamond materials addressing semiconductor, telecom and consumer industries and global markets, announced today that prolific semiconductor executive Tom Lacey has joined the Company’s Board as Chairman. The former President of Intel Americas, Lacey has more than three decades of experience leading both public and private companies in the semiconductor and licensing industries and will be instrumental in leading AKHAN as it plans for massive scale of its limitless Miraj Diamond® technology portfolio.
“Despite our revolutionary materials and impressive customer base, AKHAN, up until this point, has largely been made up of its nascent technology team. We’ve done an outstanding job in taking our Miraj Diamond® tech from concept to prototype, and now is the time for massive scale,” said Adam Khan, Founder of AKHAN Semiconductor. “Tom, who’s onboarding marks the launch of our operational growth phase, is one of the most well respected, trusted and knowledgeable leaders in the entire semiconductor and technology space, providing AKHAN with a distinguished executive who will lead the Company as we transform electronic capabilities.”
AKHAN, the only diamond semiconductor fab in North America, is well positioned for mass expansion as the United States works to address the global semiconductor shortage and recapture its leadership role in the industry. Lacey, in addition to heading Intel Americas, has worked across startups, mid-sized and large public and private companies in the technology space and will provide AKHAN with a tremendous amount of insight and deep understanding as the Company brings its limitless Miraj Diamond® technology portfolio to market across various industries including aerospace, consumer electronics, military & defense, automotive, telecommunications and more.
“Semiconductors have hit the global stage, and AKHAN is best positioned to pioneer the much-needed transition away from silicon semiconductors and usher in a new age of faster, lighter, simpler and more powerful devices that will lead to the Diamond Age of Electronics,” said Lacey. “Adam Khan and his impressive team have brought significant and much needed innovation to the space. Now it's time to unleash diamond’s immense capabilities on chips, as well as optical and glass coatings, as AKHAN has impressive successes in research and customer development in all three areas.”
While semiconductors are crucial technology to all types of electronic devices, they will become even more critical with the imminent technology-based innovations in various industries. Diamond is proven to be the most optimal semiconductor material, far outmatching industry-standard silicon in speed, power handling, density and operating temperature. AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond Platform™ will greatly improve semiconductor performance and offer diamond’s physical advantages to glass and optics (stronger, harder, more durable) too.
Lacey is a proven, successful, and high integrity executive who has worked for a number of premier technology companies, including Intel and Tessera/Xperi, among others. His roles have spanned positions in leadership, engineering, marketing, sales, OEM, retail channel, distribution, management, operations, Intellectual Property, P&L, Wall Street, fund raising, international geographies (especially Asia) and merger and acquisition areas, making him an ideal fit to lead AKHAN’s board as it brings its Miraj Diamond® Glass, Optics and Electronics solutions to market.
Alan Patterson
INDIANAPOLIS — Adam Khan, the founder and chairman of Akhan Semiconductor, expects diamond to be just one of the materials that will help take semiconductors to a new stage beyond the Moore’s Law era.
In 2014, the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory announced an intellectual property licensing agreement with Akhan, in a public-private partnership aimed at commercializing diamond-based semiconductor technologies. Today, with a strong patent portfolio and a pilot facility for chemical vapor deposition of diamond on silicon wafers, the company aims to be first to test a technology that promises to make enforcement of Moore’s Law less urgent.
“There’s sort of two camps, right?” Khan said in an interview with EE Times. “There’s the Moore’s Law, the more-than-Moore’s Law group, right? And then there’s the what-comes-next group.”
The next advanced semiconductor materials will need to solve issues like power levels and lithography, according to Khan. As transistor densities increase on a chip, there’s been a need to add multi-layer materials as a thermal management layer to reduce heating on the top, as well as growing problems like parasitic losses. The limitations of silicon in terms of efficiency and performance tradeoffs have turned attention to packaging because of thermal issues.
But besides packaging, Akhan is looking at diamond as a semiconductor material that may someday replace silicon.
“Not only is diamond the highest thermal-conductance material, it dissipates heat better than any other 3D material we know, and thus, integrating it solves a lot of the heating issues and the thermal shock issue of semiconductor electronics,” Khan says. “Diamond is also the best in terms of the wide bandgap materials.”
Wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors operate at higher voltages, frequencies and temperatures than conventional materials like silicon and gallium arsenide. WBGs are used in some radio-frequency applications, including military radars. WBGs are poised for adoption in a wider range of applications, especially in next-generation electronic devices.
The widespread use of diamond as a semiconductor material should not require any major changes in the current chipmaking process, according to Khan.
“The only additional tool that would need to be inserted into the foundry line or into the process itself would be the actual diamond chemical vapor deposition (CVD) tool.” Otherwise, the process includes “all of the normative semiconductor and metrology equipment that you would use, which we have running in a pilot facility.”
Not far from the Argonne Laboratory in northern Illinois, Akhan operates its so-called “diamond mine”, where it is running diamond CVD processes.
Customers can contract low to medium volume production out to Akhan and its 25 employees, but at the highest volume, the company is prepared for licensing and equipment sales to chipmakers.
“A customer would license our process and then bring the tool in-house to insert into their own fab,” Khan says.
Diamond’s cooling capability is five times that of copper and more than 20 times that of silicon, according to Khan.
“During operation, the temperatures on these devices now drop largely to room temperature, depending on the type of material you’re running and the thickness of the underlying material. But we have substantial reductions in terms of the thermal budget during operating temperatures.”
Akhan’s technology is used in optics, display glass and chips for customers that Khan identifies as Lockheed Martin and Honeywell. A “rather large smartphone OEM” that Khan is unwilling to name is also a customer as well as other companies in semiconductor equipment and end consumers in aerospace and defense.
With the Argonne National Laboratory, Akhan made what Khan calls “two major breakthroughs”. One was low-temperature deposition of diamond at CMOS-compatible temperatures. The partners also enabled a new co-doping technique in diamond for power and logic-based electronics.
From there, Akhan grew innovations into some 40 plus patents worldwide, covering various applications in optics, display glass and semiconductors.
There are certainly other companies in the diamond space, Khan says. He gives one example, Diamond Foundry, which is making lab-grown gem material and has a reported market valuation of about $1.8 billion. Diamond Foundry mainly makes high-end luxury diamonds for jewelry.
Roslyn Layton
There is bipartisan, bicameral support in Congress for the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act (CHIPS for America Act), a set of investments and incentives to support US semiconductor manufacturing, research and development, and supply chain security. Recent proposals as part of the annual defense appropriations process calls for $49.5 billion ($39 billion in production and R&D incentives and $10.5 billion to implement programs including the National Semiconductor Technology Center and other R&D). Critics assert that this amount does not come close to other nations’ semiconductor ambitions. China plans to invest $150 billion (though this could be frittered away through waste and corruption), and South Korea just announced $450 billion. Some observers say the US needs sustained government investment of $100 billion for three to four years to catch up with other countries.
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) asserts the US share of semiconductor manufacturing has eroded from 37% in 1990 to 12% today. It attributes this to other countries governments’ aggressive investment in chip manufacturing and R&D while federal dollars have been relatively limited. To lower labor cost and take advantage of foreign incentives, US semiconductor firms have long offshored. All things being equal, the same dollar invested in semiconductor manufacturing in Taiwan or Singapore offers a greater return than the US. As such, the CHIPS Act investment tax credit seems a no-brainer.
Jeff Ferry of Coalition for a Prosperous America and I document that while the US maintains its edge in the design of chips, its advantages will diminish by the lack of connection to production. To improve Americans’ security and prosperity, we call on industrial leaders and policymakers to rebuild America’s chip making capabilities with a commitment to produce at least half of America’s needed chips by US majority-owned firms. Such solidarity for the US is a tall order. Firms like Applied Materials, Lam Research, and KLA turn a profit by selling advanced semiconductor equipment to Chinese military fabs CXMT and YMTC, which in turn use this equipment to build war technologies which could be used against Americans.
Another critique of the CHIPS Act is it gives large semiconductor firms public money which already have the cash to invest. Moreover questions remain to whether US policy is adequate to fuel next generation innovation in semiconductors, extend Moore’s Law, and ensure a sufficient supply of chips. These and related policy issues will be discussed at China Tech Threat’s June 8 event “Let the chips fall at BIS? ” which explores the future of the Bureau of Industry and Security, a key regulatory agency in the space.
About 95 percent of semiconductor device types have been made of silicon since the 1960s, but this presents some problems, not the least of which is overcoming the physical challenge of Moore’s Law. Silicon can get too hot as data is powered through it, and cooling it creates waste. Adam Khan is innovating a cleaner, cooler, faster, and more powerful semiconductor material alternative: diamonds. Through his Akhan Semiconductor, he wants to usher in the “Diamond Age” of electronics and revolutionize display glass, optics, thermal management to monolithically integrated diamond integrated circuits. Compared to silicon, electronics made of diamond material can run hotter without degrading performance, cool more easily, tolerate higher voltage, and deliver greater throughput.
Lab-grown diamonds originate from Cold War experiments to fabricate hard materials and have subsequently be improved. Khan studied these materials in college and founded a company to manufacture diamond materials and join them with silicon semiconductor elements. Though the industry’s choice material silicon carbide continues to grow with the current install base as well as favorable cost and performance factors, Khan believes that diamond material can emerge because of its technical superiority, cleaner environmental profile, and ability to be implemented without overhauling the existing semiconductor manufacturing processes.
The US China Commission reported on China’s efforts to use diamond coatings in the Hunan Space Bureau and its advanced weapons program. Indeed Chinese actors have been implicated in the alleged theft of Akhan’s diamond technology. Khan described cooperating with the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a sting operation targeting Huawei for the attempted theft of Akhan’s Miraj Diamond® technology. Chinese actors also attempted to compromise Akhan’s computer system, according to an audit by Dark Wolf Solutions. Khan claims that US semiconductor policy does not address the strategic issue of materials, notably diamonds. He calls the clinging to the “aging silicon platform” as an “investment in stage coaches when the internal combustion engine has been invented.”
Given their important to the US economy, innovation, and security, semiconductors have taken center stage in technology policy. Moreover, managing export controls of these sensitive, strategic and emerging technologies has catapulted the little-known BIS as a key actor in international affairs. Whether, how, and where the chips fall has implications for the future.
Shannon Davis
AKHAN Semiconductor (AKHAN), a technology company specializing in the fabrication and application of synthetic, lab-grown electronics-grade diamond materials addressing semiconductor, telecom, and consumer industries and global markets, announced today a partnership with The Tech Advocates. As the Biden Administration addresses the current semiconductor shortage by assessing the existing U.S. semiconductor supply chain, The Tech Advocates will demonstrate AKHAN’s breakthrough Miraj Diamond® Technology which is well positioned to enhance various government projects that need access to the very best American technology and innovations through public/private partnerships.
The Tech Advocates, a team of individuals with experience working within the Department of Defense, amongst other key government agencies, strive to create strong, trusted relationships between rapidly advancing tech companies like AKHAN and innovative U.S. Government offices looking to solve real problems. As the United States Government works to prioritize the importance of stateside chip development and manufacturing, The Tech Advocates will work to integrate AKHAN with critical government opportunities surrounding AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond® Optics and Miraj Diamond® Electronics solutions to further advance government initiatives. Given the importance of semiconductors to both consumer and defense technologies, the U.S. government is set to benefit in various ways from AKHAN’s breakthrough tech, especially when you consider that recent AKHAN research was funded by the US Army.
“As we navigate a post-Moore’s Law world, AKHAN’s ability to take current semiconductor fabrication capabilities and rapidly create state-of-the-art enhancement with very little changes to the existing manufacturing processes makes us an ideal government partner. Our tech can efficiently integrate into existing technologies and enhance performance across applications,” said Adam Khan, Founder and CEO of AKHAN Semiconductor. “AKHAN chose The Tech Advocates as its first sales partner largely due to the outstanding job of Daniel Marrujo, who’s experience in the electronics, optical and semiconductor industries is equaled by his trusted relationships and desire to add value.”
The U.S. Government relies on a high mix of technologies and systems to support its various missions and projects, and AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond® portfolio has the ability to improve the overall performance of those systems with specific advancements to power transistors, radio frequency (RF) and microwave electronics, With a thermal conductivity higher than any other known material and thermal shock robustness 100 times that of other optical materials, AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond® Optics materials are critical for mitigating land, sea, air, and space threats delivered with ever increasing velocities, quantities, and accuracies. AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond® Electronics materials can be applied to various tech devices to make them faster, thinner, more powerful and able to operate at higher temperatures.
“The Department of Defense relies on a high mix of technologies that integrate into their systems. These systems must perform in traditional and irregular environments,” said Marrujo, who leads The Tech Advocates and is the former Chief Strategy Officer for the Department of Defense Microelectronics Activity, “AKHAN’s advanced diamond technology allows the Department of Defense to dramatically improve their performance for current and next generation platforms.”
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AKHAN Semiconductor (AKHAN), a technology company specializing in the fabrication and application of synthetic, lab-grown electronics-grade diamond materials addressing semiconductor, telecom, and consumer industries and global markets, announced today a partnership with The Tech Advocates. As the Biden Administration addresses the current semiconductor shortage by assessing the existing U.S. semiconductor supply chain, The Tech Advocates will demonstrate AKHAN’s breakthrough Miraj Diamond® Technology which is well positioned to enhance various government projects that need access to the very best American technology and innovations through public/private partnerships.
The Tech Advocates, a team of individuals with experience working within the Department of Defense, amongst other key government agencies, strive to create strong, trusted relationships between rapidly advancing tech companies like AKHAN and innovative U.S. Government offices looking to solve real problems. As the United States Government works to prioritize the importance of stateside chip development and manufacturing, The Tech Advocates will work to integrate AKHAN with critical government opportunities surrounding AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond® Optics and Miraj Diamond® Electronics solutions to further advance government initiatives. Given the importance of semiconductors to both consumer and defense technologies, the U.S. government is set to benefit in various ways from AKHAN’s breakthrough tech, especially when you consider that recent AKHAN research was funded by the US Army.
“As we navigate a post-Moore’s Law world, AKHAN’s ability to take current semiconductor fabrication capabilities and rapidly create state-of-the-art enhancement with very little changes to the existing manufacturing processes makes us an ideal government partner. Our tech can efficiently integrate into existing technologies and enhance performance across applications,” said Adam Khan, Founder and CEO of AKHAN Semiconductor. “AKHAN chose The Tech Advocates as its first sales partner largely due to the outstanding job of Daniel Marrujo, who’s experience in the electronics, optical and semiconductor industries is equaled by his trusted relationships and desire to add value.”
The U.S. Government relies on a high mix of technologies and systems to support its various missions and projects, and AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond® portfolio has the ability to improve the overall performance of those systems with specific advancements to power transistors, radio frequency (RF) and microwave electronics, With a thermal conductivity higher than any other known material and thermal shock robustness 100 times that of other optical materials, AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond® Optics materials are critical for mitigating land, sea, air, and space threats delivered with ever increasing velocities, quantities, and accuracies. AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond® Electronics materials can be applied to various tech devices to make them faster, thinner, more powerful and able to operate at higher temperatures.
“The Department of Defense relies on a high mix of technologies that integrate into their systems. These systems must perform in traditional and irregular environments,” said Marrujo, who leads The Tech Advocates and is the former Chief Strategy Officer for the Department of Defense Microelectronics Activity, “AKHAN’s advanced diamond technology allows the Department of Defense to dramatically improve their performance for current and next generation platforms.”
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AKHAN Semiconductor, a technology company specializing in the fabrication and application of synthetic, lab-grown electronics-grade diamonds addressing the semiconductor, telecom, consumer display and global markets, announced today that it has added veteran business executive King R. Lee and corporate finance and strategy consultant Holger Heims to its Board of Directors. Lee and Heims both bring distinct business acumen and decades of experience to AKHAN and will be instrumental in the company’s efforts to expand its Miraj Diamond® products globally across verticals, including consumer electronics, semiconductors, telecom/optics among the various industries AKHAN has targeted for key growth.
King R. Lee, a veteran CEO with 25 years of experience working in both public and private international companies, currently serves as a Partner of Resource Capitalist, LLC, where he advises companies in the technology space. In his recent past, King acted as the CEO of Good Technology, a cybersecurity company targeting mobile devices, where he helped transition from a consumer-focused company to an enterprise solution, increasing revenue by 700%. In addition to his experience across technologies, King has held numerous positions as CEO of both public and private technology companies, international and domestic, and worked with top tier international private equity firms as a board member, including fundraising in private and public transactions for growth companies.
“As AKHAN continues to develop their patent portfolio and its applications addressing several huge technology sectors, my experience in building high growth corporate structures and focusing on execution will be helpful in ensuring the Company reaches its goals,” said Lee. “Whether it’s for the semiconductor, telecom or automotive sector or applying it to other cutting-edge technologies, AKHAN’s diamond tech is an industry-changing solution with great global opportunity.”
Holger Heims also joins AKHAN’s board with extensive experience as CEO and CFO of public companies in the U.S. and Europe, and a track record of helping technology companies scale to a global level and enter new markets. Currently acting as the Managing Partner of Falcon Equity Advisors of Switzerland, Holger has more than 30 years of professional experience, in international private equity (Deutsche Bank and others), M&A and cross-border corporate finance, particular in the Middle East and emerging markets, all of which will be helpful to AKHAN as it targets new regions for expanded manufacturing capacity.
“As companies across industries come to realize they need AKHAN’s breakthrough solution, I’ve been provided with a great opportunity to step in and collaborate with existing leadership during this period of rapid growth,” said Heims. “As we continue to identify crucial avenues where AKHAN’s products can be applied, I’m confident my experience can assist in positioning the company for further successful and sustainable growth, and advancing their technology portfolio with almost limitless possibilities in entering various global markets.”
CHICAGO--AKHAN Semiconductor, a technology company specializing in the fabrication and application of lab-grown, electronic-grade diamonds, announced today that it has added Thomas P. Davis as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Davis is an experienced marketer with a proven track record of building teams to achieve business goals and stakeholder growth. Davis most recently held the positions of CMO and Chief Growth Officer at Forbes, a brand synonymous with business success and achievement. At Forbes, Davis worked to expand the reach of the business beyond the legacy magazine’s efforts into dozens of global partnerships and new audience platforms around the world.
Davis’ experience in developing global partnerships and knowledge of how business needs to keep pace with the rate of change will be instrumental for AKHAN as it expands its Miraj Diamond® Technology product line to address essential verticals, including consumer electronics, aerospace, military and defense, and more. As AKHAN’s technology continues to develop and advance, Davis will rely on his experience using new tools to build communities, increase engagement, corporate revenue and profitability while keeping pace with the rapid growth that AKHAN is currently experiencing.
“AKHAN Semiconductor and its breakthrough Miraj Diamond® Technology provides me with a unique opportunity to join a burgeoning company with products that will change all aspects of the way we live our lives, from more efficient cell phones to technologies that help keep our nation safe,” said Davis. “Adam Khan and the executive leadership team at AKHAN has developed game-changing technology, and I look forward to bringing it to the masses.”
In his new role at AKHAN, Davis will rely on his distinguished intellectual capital, gained from working closely with a powerful network of business partners and colleagues, to expand AKHAN globally, develop new product lines, and further transform the organization to create a culture of abundant thinking and powerful possibilities.
“Tom has a history of constant achievement and a proven track-record in taking successful businesses and growing them to reach their max potential,” said Adam Khan, CEO and Founder of AKHAN Semiconductor. “Tom will play a key role in developing market outreach and customer acquisition strategies across our entire Miraj Diamond® portfolio to ensure we’re continuing to meet the key growth metrics our stakeholders have come to expect. He’ll be a welcome addition to the executive team.”
Before joining Forbes in 2008, Davis held multiple roles at International Data Group (IDG), including Associate Publisher of Network World and General Manager of IDG’s Customer Access Group. In 2016, Davis joined the Ad Council Board of Directors. He was also recognized by the Advertising Club of New York in 2016 with the Action Award, honoring advocates for the importance of diversity and inclusion through MEDIACTION. Additionally, he received the 2016 Revvie Award as Marketing Executive of the Year along with the 2014 Min Award for Sales Leader of the Year. A graduate of Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, Davis lives in New York with his wife and children.
CHICAGO--AKHAN Semiconductor, a technology company specializing in the fabrication and application of lab-grown, electronic-grade diamonds, announced today that it has been issued additional patents for invention by the Taiwan and Korean Intellectual Property Offices. The patents cover additional claims for AKHAN’s next-generation N-type diamond semiconductor electronics materials and devices. The applications for this technology platform span everything from control & guidance electronics in military & space, power inverter for automotive, to FPGA and Logic Integrated Circuits for the global semiconductor industry.
The Taiwanese-issued patent, I711153, and South Korea-issued patent 10-2195950, are key additions to AKHAN’s breakthrough Miraj Diamond® intellectual property portfolio. It is the Company’s fourth issued patent from Taiwan, the global leader in semiconductor chip manufacturing, and third issued patent from South Korea, another global leader in semiconductor foundry processing. The technology enables breakthrough performance in semiconductor electronics. Through the integration of high-quality doped diamond in semiconductor electronics applications, the novel systems allow for next-generation electronics performance, including higher power & frequency capability, higher voltages of operation, higher current density, higher thermal conductivity/reduced thermal budget, amongst other favorable attributes.
“Taiwan & South Korea both represent the global leadership when it comes to semiconductor foundries & production and are home to several of the largest chip foundries, including TSCMS, SMIC, and Samsung, so it’s important that AKHAN has an established presence in these countries, as well as the proper intellectual property protections in place,” said Adam Khan, CEO of AKHAN Semiconductor. “These patents will be critically important in advancing AKHAN’s partnerships and relationships with companies throughout Taiwan, South Korea, and the world.”
AKHAN’s comprehensive Miraj Diamond® Electronics portfolio is at the center of the company’s ability to manufacture next-generation diamond semiconductor technology. The platform enables fabrication of complex devices such as high speed/power transistors, RF, and microwave electronics. Fabricated devices have been shown to be faster, more efficient, and >1,000x thinner than the state of the art in both diamond and silicon technologies.
CHICAGO--AKHAN Semiconductor, a technology company specializing in the fabrication and application of lab-grown, electronic-grade diamonds, announced today it has appointed Haydar F. Alireza to its Board of Directors. An experienced investor with an entrepreneurial spirit, Alireza currently acts as the General Manager of Reza Investment Company, a diversified, private conglomerate that represents companies with interest in manufacturing, construction, industrial and commercial services, oil services, retail, food and advertising.
Reza’s operations span the Middle East and South East Asia, and Alireza’s appointment will provide AKHAN with welcome guidance as it targets those regions for growth. Alireza will also call upon his experience investing with distinguished companies pre-IPO, like DocuSign, Lyft, Palantir Technologies, Chime, Robinhood, among others, to catapult AKHAN Semiconductor as its Miraj DiamondⓇ Technology becomes a valuable resource across industries, from consumer electronics to aerospace and beyond.
“As the importance of semiconductors and the advanced materials used to create them comes to the forefront of the global stage, I am elated about the opportunity to apply my passion for growing businesses as a member of the AKHAN board,” said Alireza. “It’s my core belief that businesses have a social responsibility to implement programs that promote positive impacts across all aspects of business, including the environment and community, which is why AKHAN provides such a unique opportunity. With so many use cases for its Miraj DiamondⓇ Technology, I’m eager to collaborate with existing company leadership to meet the needs of key verticals, and ensure we’re doing it in a proper, sustainable way that benefits all involved.”
In addition to his current role at Reza Investment Company, Alireza currently serves on the board of several private companies, and has served on the boards of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization and the Young Presidents Organization.