ATLANT 3D and NUS I-FIM partner to establish AI-driven atomic-scale materials discovery foundry in Singapore

ATLANT 3D and the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials (I-FIM) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build a shared materials discovery foundry at the CREATE campus. The facility will integrate ATLANT 3D’s Direct Atomic Layer Processing (DALP) technology and the NANOFABRICATOR platform into NUS I-FIM’s robotic materials hub. This collaboration, supported by Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF) under the AI for Science program, aims to create a self-driving laboratory environment. Key leadership involved includes ATLANT 3D CEO Dr. Maksym Plakhotnyuk and NUS Professor Sir Kostya S. Novoselov.

This partnership addresses the critical bottleneck in materials science: the slow, manual cycle of synthesis and characterization. By combining atomic-scale manufacturing with AI-enabled automation, the foundry targets high-growth sectors including 2D materials, nanoelectronics, quantum materials, and advanced semiconductor packaging. While traditional semiconductor manufacturing relies on established lithography and deposition, this approach seeks to accelerate the discovery of novel catalytic and photonic materials through automated, high-throughput experimentation. The integration of DALP technology into a robotic workflow positions ATLANT 3D at the intersection of additive manufacturing and semiconductor-grade precision fabrication.

For the deep-tech sector, the success of this initiative depends on the seamless integration of the NANOFABRICATOR hardware with the AI software layers to ensure high-fidelity data generation. The foundry must demonstrate that automated atomic-scale synthesis can produce device-relevant structures that meet the rigorous standards of the semiconductor and quantum industries. This setup serves as a technical benchmark for how autonomous laboratories will function in specialized material R&D environments.