Process Developments Provide Wider Market Access

A spin-out from the University of Newcastle has developed new ways of manufacturing microchips that uniquely allow it to bridge the gap between early-stage production and volume markets in sensing technologies. During a 30-month project, supported by £1.67 million from Innovate UK, INEX Microtechnology, undertook development of 25 novel microfabrication processes and capabilities around microwave & power electronics devices, microsystems (MEMS) and compound semiconductors; the processes developed will support other early-stage R&D as well as suiting volume production. According to CEO Ian Macbeth, the capability propels the company into an entirely new market role where it can “bridge the innovation gap” in a way others cannot.

“Customers are coming to us because they are frustrated by their inability to find manufacturing partners who are versatile enough to do developmental work and also to deliver early-stage volumes that they need to interest a volume manufacturer. And the volume manufacturer will come to us because they cannot afford to disrupt normal business to look at all these new projects coming out of R&D.

“If we hadn’t had the ‘fuel in the engine’ – the support from Innovate UK – we would never have got the critical momentum to do this. And the payback is going to be very quick and very significant,” he explained.

Alongside the Innovate UK funding, INEX was launched on the back of a five-year project with Dstl investigating gallium nitride (GaN) substrate technology for applications in defence communications.

Specialising in industrial applications in biotech, bio-sensing an analytics for health, INEX became a stand-alone enterprise in May 2014, based on the university’s extensive clean-room facility which served early-stage R&D as well as high-value, low-volume projects for commercial customers. It employs 18 people and has become profitable since spinning out of Newcastle University. During 2017, developmental work with a number of key customers will progress to production phase.