Lace
Develops helium atom beam lithography hardware for nanoscale semiconductor chip patterning.
- CEO / Founder
- Boris Valkov
- Team Size
- 1-10
- Stage
- Seed
- Total Funding
- $40M
- Latest Round
- Seed
- Key Investors
- Atomico; Microsoft M12
Technology & Products
Key Products
Lace develops Beyond-EUV (BEUV) atom lithography systems that utilize metastable helium atom beams instead of light to pattern semiconductor wafers. Its portfolio includes hardware for helium atom beam lithography capable of achieving 0.1nm beam resolution and a proprietary AI-driven algorithm designed to solve complex mask design mathematics, accelerating computation for chip patterning.
Technological Advantage
Potential to extend Moore's Law for AI processors by bypassing photon diffraction limits of EUV lithography.
Differentiation
Value Proposition
Enables patterning of chip features beyond EUV limits with 10x smaller resolutions (sub-1nm) without photon diffraction.
How They Differentiate
Replaces photons with helium atoms for sub-1nm features, offering 10x higher resolution than current EUV standards.
Market & Competition
Target Customers
Semiconductor chipmakers
Industry Verticals
Semiconductor manufacturing
Competitors
ASML, Nikon, Canon
Growth & Milestones
Growth Metrics
Secured €2.5 million EU funding for the FabouLACE project (2023-2026); Developed prototype systems for Beyond-EUV (BEUV) atom lithography; Targeting 2029 for deployment of a test tool in a pilot fabrication plant
Major Milestones
Raised $40M Seed round led by Atomico and Microsoft M12 (2025)
Notable Customers
Began pilot projects with two leading semiconductor fabs (unnamed) in 2023; accepted into the Intel Ignite startup program; performance validated by Imec (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre).