AlixLabs Raises €14.1 Million to Disrupt Semiconductor Patterning with Atomic Layer Etch Pitch Splitting
By NineScrolls Team · 2026-03-18 · 2 min read · Industry
Table of Contents
The Funding Round
Swedish startup AlixLabs closed a €14.1 million ($16.3 million) Series A round in late 2025. The round was co-led by long-time backers Navigare Ventures, Industrifonden, and FORWARD.one, with new participation from STOAF and Japan's Global Brain. The funding will accelerate R&D and production at the company's facilities in Lund, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Founded in 2019 in Lund by Jonas Sundqvist, Dmitry Suyatin, Amin Karimi, and Stefan Svedberg, AlixLabs has gained recognition in the semiconductor equipment community, winning top honors at the IC Taiwan Grand Challenge against more than 150 international startups.
How APS Works
AlixLabs' Atomic Layer Etch Pitch Splitting (APS) technology uses an extreme form of atomic layer etching (ALE) to split existing nanostructures into smaller features. The process etches away material from the sides and center of a pre-patterned structure, effectively doubling the pattern density without requiring additional lithography masks or EUV exposure steps.
The technique achieves sub-10nm feature sizes using existing fab infrastructure. Unlike conventional multipatterning, which requires multiple rounds of lithography and deposition to create finer patterns, APS accomplishes pitch reduction through a single etch-based process sequence.
The Value Proposition
The economics of APS are compelling. EUV lithography tools cost upward of $350 million each and require multiple exposure passes for the tightest pitches. Each additional EUV pass adds cost, time, and defect risk. If APS can deliver equivalent pitch reduction through etch alone, it could eliminate one or more EUV passes per critical layer.
For chipmakers spending tens of billions on leading-edge fabs, even a modest reduction in EUV tool requirements or patterning steps translates to significant capital and operating savings. APS also offers energy efficiency gains, as atomic layer etching consumes less power than photolithography.
Development Timeline
AlixLabs is moving APS from customer validation into beta testing in 2026, with foundry partners evaluating the technology for integration into their process flows. The company targets full industrial deployment by 2027.
The funds will be used to scale R&D, deepen relationships with foundry partners, and establish the production capacity needed for initial commercial tool sales.
Industry Context
APS enters a market where the incumbent approach to pitch reduction—self-aligned multipatterning using deposition and etch cycles—is well established but increasingly expensive. As chipmakers push to 2nm and 1.4nm nodes, the number of patterning steps continues to grow. Any technology that can reduce patterning complexity while maintaining dimensional control has a large addressable market.
AlixLabs holds multiple U.S. and European patents on APS, providing intellectual property protection as it moves toward commercialization.