AIXTRON SE today announced that it is participating as a key partner in the recently announced European Union (EU) Future Emerging Technology (FET) flagship project “Graphene.” As part of the consortium, AIXTRON will bring its expertise in deposition processes for graphene and as such shall lead the production work package of the flagship.

“Congratulations to the leadership and partners of the Graphene Flagship,” Dr. Bernd Schulte, Chief Operating Officer at AIXTRON, said. “AIXTRON is proud to be a part of this future-oriented research initiative, which will have considerable impact on the European economy.”

Dr. Ken Teo, director of Nanoinstruments at AIXTRON, said AIXTRON’s key contribution will be to enable high-quality large-scale graphene growth through the development of next generation deposition equipment.

“Working with graphene thin-film producers, bulk graphene manufacturers and associated partners, graphene will be produced for a variety of applications ranging from wireless communications to display, sensing and energy storage,” said Teo. “This is a unique opportunity for us to interact with and understand the requirements of R&D and industrial end-users.”

“For a disruptive new material such as graphene, long-term investment is required to create the entire value chain and end market applications,” Dr. Schulte added. “Support for the Graphene Flagship over the next decade by the EU is indeed a significant commitment that makes this possible. The development furthermore confirms AIXTRON’s long-term strategy in enabling the deposition of new electronic materials such as graphene.”

Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, with Prof. Jari Kinaret as the flagship director, will coordinate 126 academic and industrial research groups in 17 European countries. The EU funding for the academic-industrial consortium starts with an initial 30-month-EU budget of 54 million euro which will be extended up to 10 years with 1 billion Euro total project cost, with further contributions coming from the Horizon 2020 program and local programs from various EU countries.

A 300 mm wafer of graphene produced on an AIXTRON system, presented by Prof. Jari Kinaret, Director of the Graphene Flagship, and Neelie Kroes, EU Digital Agenda Commissioner.