MARINA DEL REY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Carbonics, Inc., aims to revolutionize traditional electronics by employing earth-abundant carbon nanomaterials to vastly improve the power consumption and performance of wireless products that include next-generation smartphone and wearable devices.
The Los Angeles-based company leverages advanced carbon research conducted at UCLA and USC and is backed by a $5.5 million investment from TAQNIA International. Carbonics intends to incorporate carbon nanomaterials into semiconductor radio frequency (RF) components to reduce battery demands and increase device efficiency.
While many carbon-based nanomaterials under development are focused on semiconductors such as logic microchip processors, Carbonics technology focuses on replacing existing semiconductor RF transistor devices—ubiquitous components found in all wireless products.
“Carbonics technology will allow smartphones to be charged once a week instead of once a day, and these same devices won’t heat up in your hand,” said Carbonics CEO Kos Galatsis. “Consumers don’t want to deal with these limitations, and existing scaled semiconductor technologies need new materials and designs to improve the user experience.”
Harnessing the Power of Carbon
Mobile wireless, wireless infrastructure, broadband and satellite communications for consumer, defense, big data and emerging markets such as wearables, are on a growth trajectory. The driver of increased data requirements is demand for high-resolution video, VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), file sharing, big-data analytics and interactive gaming.
Increased mobile traffic has created a need for RF semiconductor solutions that deliver better signal quality, higher data rates, lower noise, higher linearity and less power consumption. Carbonics technology not only offers increased power efficiency, but it also offers performance enhancements such as superior linearity across a wide bandwidth. Such capabilities enable 4G LTE (2GHz), next generation-WiFi such as WiGig (60GHz) and advanced imaging capability for biometric security (>100GHz) to operate using the same single active nanodevice transistor.
Carbonics is currently fabricating RF transistor prototypes to customer specifications, with products scheduled for manufacturing via foundry partners in the second half of 2015.
The company is made up of seasoned technologists and entrepreneurs. Galatsis is a nanotechnologist and former UCLA professor and researcher with more than a decade of experience driving semiconductor technology programs. Co-founder Hani Enaya is an energy and semiconductor technologist with experience in structured finance and international development.
Additionally, Carbonics technology is a product of university research driven by Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies. Enaya is also a SRC graduate from North Carolina State University.
“SRC research has a strong track record of providing new technology for its sponsors and available for licensing for new businesses,” said Gilroy Vandentop, executive director of SRC’s STARnet program. “We are delighted to see SRC-funded researchers moving technology opportunities from the laboratory to industry.”
About Carbonics, Inc.
Carbonics aims to revolutionize traditional electronics by employing earth-abundant carbon nanomaterials to vastly improve the power consumption and performance of wireless products that include next-generation smartphone and wearable devices. For more information, visit http://carbonicsinc.com.
