Poro Technologies (Porotech), the Gallium Nitride (GaN) material technology developer and a recent spin-out from the University of Cambridge, has closed a £1.5 million seed round investment to develop a pilot plant in Cambridge and its first major products.
The seed round was co-led by Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialisation arm of the University of Cambridge, and IQ Capital Partners, with the additional participation of Martlet Capital and a syndicate of angel investors from Cambridge Angels and Cambridge Capital Group.
Porotech focuses on the development of high performance and energy efficient wide-bandgap compound GaN semiconductors by applying cutting-edge material technologies and solutions to unleash the full potential of GaN to revolutionise the electronics industry.
Porotech’s unique production process allows the controlled creation of a new class of porous GaN semiconductor materials and structures, which provide enhanced functionality. Porous GaN could be regarded as a semiconductor composite of solid GaN and air. It enables Porotech to engineer a wide range of material properties, such as optical, mechanical, thermal and electrical, and consequently offers an entirely new material platform for semiconductor devices to be built upon.
Porotech’s porous GaN wafers, material technologies and device solutions will not only redefine what is known and what is possible with existing GaN technologies, but also deliver multifunctional GaN semiconductor wafers with the material properties and functionalities targeted to the specific final device application for the cost-effective manufacture of LEDs, lasers, power electronics, quantum light sources, sensors and solar cells.
With Porotech’s process and product IP portfolio, scale-up and instrumentation solutions, know-how and interdisciplinary expertise in semiconductor materials and devices, and materials chemistry, its licensing business model (involving proving by making) is to commercialise its unique material platform technology and device solutions in conjunction with its partners and foundry network.
Porotech was the winner of Cambridge Enterprise’s Postdoc Business Plan Competition 2018 and won the golden award of the 5th China ‘Internet Plus’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition in October 2019.
Image: Poro Technologies founders (page)
