Teja Potočnik

In 2022, data centres consumed electricity equivalent to the power needs of 153 million households. While more efficient semiconductor devices could reduce emissions, the industry faces a challenge: transistors are reaching their physical limits. To sustain progress, manufacturers are exploring alternative materials that enhance computing power without further miniaturisation. Graphene, quantum dots and other nanomaterials offer promise, but integrating them at scale remains complex. Their unpredictable growth on substrates often requires manual alignment, increasing costs and limiting scalability. 

To overcome this, Potočnik developed an automated software platform to enhance the efficiency and scalability of semiconductor device manufacturing using nanomaterials, addressing various technologies such as sensors, flexible electronics and transistors. The key to this platform is the LithoTag, an embedded marker system that enables precise alignment of nanomaterials. The markers function similarly to QR codes and allow computer vision algorithms to track nanoscale features with high accuracy. By eliminating manual correction, this approach improves precision, efficiency and scalability. In the long term, this technology could lead to new nanomaterial-based devices with enhanced capabilities such as more energy-efficient microchips, extended battery life in consumer electronics and reduced energy consumption in data centres. The LithoTag could streamline manufacturing by encoding operational instructions for equipment. For example, machinery equipped with cameras could read these markers to automatically execute tasks, such as drilling to specific dimensions. Future applications may include flexible electronics and biotechnology, such as wearable health monitors. 

Scaling for industry 

Potočnik's journey into the fascinating world of nanotechnology began with her early love for chemistry and physics. She chose materials science for its versatile applications, later focusing on nanofabrication and the use of nanomaterials in transistors during her PhD at Cambridge. Building transistors was a time-consuming process requiring extreme precision and control at the nanoscale. To optimise her research, she developed an automation approach combining image processing and computer vision. This breakthrough not only accelerated her research, but also sparked her entrepreneurial spirit. 

With support from Cambridge Enterprise, Potočnik and her fellow researchers filed a patent application for their technology and began exploring commercial opportunities. In 2022, she joined ConceptionX, a deep-tech venture program that helps researchers transition into entrepreneurship, and within a few months, launched Nanomation with a team of experienced colleagues to further develop her work. The response to the UK-based start-up has been promising, as Potočnik explains: “"We currently have academic users. Our goal is to secure industry pilots within the next few years and several companies are interested in our prototypes.”   

Towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 

The invention supports SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure) by enabling the development of more efficient semiconductor devices, advancing next-generation electronics, medical technologies and sustainable computing solutions.