Foundries could gain a practical route to wafer-scale 2D semiconductors if Singapore-based Nexstrom can scale transition-metal dichalcogenides, or TMDs, to the 300mm wafers used in mainstream chipmaking.
The company closed a $12 million seed round, taking total capital to $15 million, to build its North Star system and the associated hardware and process controls intended to grow TMD films directly on 300mm (12-inch) wafers. Nexstrom presents the effort as an attempt to bridge lab demonstrations of 2D materials and the reliability and throughput demands of volume production.
Co-founder and chief scientist Lance Li, who led post-silicon electronics research at TSMC and has worked on 2D materials since 2012, framed the scale problem plainly, “In the lab, people can get very small, high-quality materials, but only on a very small scale,” he said. Nexstrom says North Star is designed to translate those small-scale results into wafer-scale material compatible with foundry processes.
The startup joins an ecosystem already exploring 2D semiconductor integration. TSMC, Intel and IMEC are developing integration strategies, while equipment and materials vendors including AIXTRON and CDimension, and several startups, are addressing other parts of the chain. Nexstrom says it plans to sell or partner with established chipmakers rather than compete directly, and it reports unnamed industry customers are testing samples of its wafers and materials.
Nexstrom has started system installations and staged scale-up tests. “We have proven material results on wafers using our 12-inch system that has just been installed. We have systematically scaled from 2 inches to 6 inches, and we are going to complete our 8 inch and 8 inch by the end of October,” Nexstrom’s CEO Phoebe Tan said. The company will use the new funds to refine process control and measurement, expand its team, and run qualification programmes with potential customers.
Significant technical hurdles remain, chiefly achieving consistent, defect-free TMD growth across full-size wafers. Nexstrom projects its equipment could be ready for commercial production between 2030 and 2035, a window that leaves years of qualification and integration work for partners and suppliers. The immediate priorities are improving material uniformity, finishing planned system upgrades and advancing customer qualification using the newly funded development run.
