Here’s what 2025 holds for Archer Materials (ASX:AXE) and why investors should be excited

Nick Sundich Nick Sundich, October 31, 2024

Let’s take a look at what 2025 holds for Archer Materials (ASX:AXE), a company that is making a steady journey toward commercialising its 12CQ and Biochip technologies. During the last few months, the company has taken major steps in its journey and is poised for a big 2025.

 

Recap of Archer and its technologies

12CQ is a carbon-based semiconductor technology which could enable mobile quantum devices. It resolves the impediments that have prevented quantum devices, from reaching the mainstream – which currently include the practicalities of operation and scale.

Biochip is a Lab-on-a-Chip technology being developed to enable rapid, detection of diseases. It would allow droplets of biological specimens to be analysed and processed using graphene sensors, thus generating faster and more reliable results than competing technologies.

Archer Materials is the only ASX-listed company, and one of only a few companies in the world attempting to develop such technologies. It has a well-rounded patent portfolio, a proven record of cost control and crucial partnerships with foundries and research partners. Most crucially, it has a very substantial revenue opportunity ahead of it.

 

The past quarter’s progress with 12CQ

With 12CQ, Archer Materials has achieved 3 feats during the past few months.

First, Archer has improved how single electron spins are detected by using resonators that can be adjusted to how they respond to a spin signal. Archer can now fine-tune the resonators to make its readings faster and more accurate. Adjustable resonator responses allow Archer to handle more qubits at once, and thus more data.

Second, Archer has developed a new device architecture and fabrication process in partnership with researchers at QMUL. These works have allowed key quantum electrical behaviour to be observed, and the company has found a phenomenon known as Coulomb Blockade. This is the inhibition of electron tunnelling in quantum dots, which means that the team has a precise control of a small number of electrons on a quantum dot. The onset of this phenomenon is significant because it demonstrates the potential for room temperature operation of 12CQ, which is one of the technology’s major selling points.

Third, Archer’s research team has also been able to accurately characterise the fundamental and electrical properties of the new device design with electrical measurements performed at 80 degrees Kelvin (-193.15C).

 

The past quarter’s progress with Biochip

Turning to Biochip, Archer Materials has made three achievements. First, it developed a new standardised gFET test to assess the gFET sensor performance and ensure consistency over time. Through these tests, Archer will ensure consistency, reliability and sensitivity with future manufacturing partners.

Second, it began to participate in a multi-project wafer (MPW) run managed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland to develop Biochip. It has sent a new design to VTT to manufacture 200mm diameter wafers via a MPW run for integration with CMOS (Complementary Metal-oxide Semiconductor) readout. In other words, Biochip’s sensors will be able to be electrically accessed, controlled and read out by CMOS circuitry Integration.

Third, Archer has initiated experiments to ultimately detect and monitor chronic kidney disease on its Biochip graphene field effect transistor (gFET) sensors. Archer, through one of its foundry partners, verified a process that directly grows graphene surfaces to produce superior devices, rather than transferring the graphene to a device from a wafer.

 

Here’s what 2025 holds for Archer Materials

Archer Materials has several major goals for 2025. These include:

  • Continuing to refine 12CQ and Biochip, particularly progressing the control and readout functionality, and design fabrication;
  • Identifying other technologies and devices that might be suitable for 12CQ
  • Procuring new commercial partnerships and advancing existing ones, and
  • Developing TMR (tunnel magnetoresistance) sensors for commercial use in industrial applications.

Archer Materials recently signed an agreement with China-based MultiDimension Technology to develop a tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) sensor for commercial use in industrial applications. TMR sensors are magnetic sensors that are highly sensitive, have high bandwidth, and low power consumption compared to the traditional Hall effect sensors, which are currently industry standard.

TMR sensors can be used in a wide range of applications including data centres, IoT and consumer electronics such as smartphones and wearable devices, medical devices and in electric and autonomous vehicles. Archer will use its expertise in quantum mechanics to create a first prototype expected to be delivered by MDT by the end of the current calendar year.

 

Conclusion

Archer’s journey has been slow and steady, but it has continued to make progress towards eventual commercialisation. Investors should watch the next 12 months with eager interest. We encourage investors curious in finding out more about the company to view the research reports on Archer Materials from our friends at Pitt Street Research (including our most recent report, released earlier this week), as well as other Stocks Down Under content on Archer.

 

Archer Materials is a research client of Pitt Street Research.

 

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