Current lithography tools, which rely on light to etch patterns onto silicon, are nearing their physical limits after decades of incremental progress. That challenge is drawing investor attention to alternative approaches.
Norwegian Lace Lithography has raised $40 million in a Series A round co-led by Atomico and M12, with participation from Linse Capital, SETT, Nysnø, and existing investors including Vsquared Ventures, Future Ventures, and Runa Capital.
The funding brings the company’s total capital raised to more than $60 million since its launch two years ago.
Moving beyond light-based lithography
The company was founded by Bodil Holst and Adrià Salvador Palau, combining expertise in atomic physics, engineering, and AI systems.
Lace Lithography is developing a different approach. Instead of using light, the company is working on a system that uses beams of helium atoms to pattern semiconductor chips. This method aims to overcome the resolution limits of traditional photolithography, potentially enabling smaller, more precise chip features.
The firm is also applying AI to address the computational challenges involved in designing chip masks, an area long considered difficult to scale efficiently.
Lace’s technology is designed to integrate with existing semiconductor manufacturing processes, rather than requiring entirely new infrastructure. The goal is to reduce system complexity and energy consumption while improving performance, particularly for applications such as AI, quantum computing, and photonics.
While light-based lithography has underpinned the industry for decades, emerging methods like atom-based patterning could play a role in shaping the next phase of chip production, if they can be scaled commercially.
