Adisyn turns up the heat on graphene tech, stays cashed-up in the quarter

• During the quarter, Adisyn installs new ALD system
• Low-temp testing under way
• $6m cash and breakeven in Services unit keep things steady

Special Report: In the September quarter, Adisyn installed and commissioned its state of the art Atomic Layer Deposition system, kicked off low-temperature graphene testing, and closed the period with $6 million in cash and a breakeven services arm.

Adisyn Ltd (ASX: AI1) is edging closer to one of the semiconductor industry’s biggest breakthroughs: solving the heat and resistance problem that’s starting to choke the progression of the next generation of chips.

In its September-quarter update, it reported steady finances, a newly upgraded facility, and a major installation milestone that moves it from theory to tangible results.

Adisyn finished the quarter with $6 million in cash and no debt, a solid balance sheet for a company deep in next-generation materials research.

Total revenue was just over $1 million with operating outflows of $732k, while its services arm, Adisyn Services, hit cash-flow breakeven for the first time.

The unit, which provides managed IT and cyber-security to Australia’s fast-growing SME defence sector, keeps a dependable revenue stream ticking while the company’s R&D engine accelerates offshore.

A new machine for a new material

The highlight of the quarter was the successful commissioning of a Beneq TFS 200 Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) system at Adisyn’s wholly owned subsidiary, 2D Generation (2DG), based in Israel’s Yakum Industrial Park.

“ALD” might sound niche, but it’s the kind of equipment found in every leading semiconductor fab in the world – machines that deposit films a single atom thick with the precision of a metronome.

2DG’s version, custom-built by Finland’s Beneq, is designed for one goal: growing graphene.

The system has several clever upgrades. It can use plasma to clean and treat wafer surfaces, swap samples at room temperature via a semi-automatic load-lock, and process full wafers in a chamber with tighter control of temperature and pressure.

Those upgrades are vital to what Adisyn is chasing – a low-temperature graphene deposition process that could replace copper interconnects inside chips and dramatically improve their performance.

The system now runs in tandem with another Beneq TFS 200 at Tel Aviv University’s Jan Koum Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

Together they form a dual-system setup that lets researchers test different substrates, gases and temperature regimes simultaneously, speeding up the path to validation.

Phase One: building graphene layer by layer

Following installation, Adisyn launched the first phase of what it calls Precursor Development and Graphene Growth, an iterative loop of testing, analysis and adjustment designed to prove its patented low-temperature process under real semiconductor conditions.

Each run starts with a plasma pre-clean to remove surface contamination, followed by a carefully sequenced gas-precursor deposition that triggers graphene growth one atomic layer at a time.

The film is then annealed (a controlled heat treatment to improve its crystal structure) before being measured, characterised and refined in a continuous feedback cycle.

This process will be repeated many times using at least three different precursor candidates to determine which combination yields the most consistent, high-quality graphene.

The Beneq system includes heated precursor lines, multi-gas capability, plasma-enhanced surface activation and an ultra-low-pressure chamber – all giving 2DG the fine control it needs to perfect the recipe.

Adisyn expects this phase to continue through late 2025 and into early Q1 2026, after which the project will shift to recipe development, repeatability testing, wafer-scale integration and industry collaboration.

If the process proves scalable and repeatable, the company says it could “unlock a new generation of semiconductor interconnects.”

Why interconnects matter

In every chip, interconnects are the conductive highways linking billions of transistors, capacitors and resistors.

For decades, copper has done the job superbly, but at 10 nanometres and below, its resistance shoots up, generating more heat and wasting power.

At 2 to 3 nm, where the world’s most advanced chips are heading, copper is essentially at its physical limit.

That’s where graphene comes in.

Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice, offers up to 200 times higher electron mobility than copper, barely heats up, and doesn’t lose conductivity as it gets thinner.

2DG’s low-temperature ALD method aims to deposit graphene onto wafers without damaging nearby components, something that’s eluded many researchers.

Success would mean faster, cooler chips, a holy grail for data centres, AI accelerators and any application battling thermal constraints.

Behind the scenes, Adisyn completed a major facility upgrade at 2DG with new environmental controls and high-spec electrical systems to support ALD research.

The lab now supports parallel experiments between Israel and Tel Aviv University, giving the team full-scale R&D capability.

Steady cash from services

While 2DG tackles atomic-scale physics, Adisyn Services continues to operate on the home front, delivering IT and cyber-security support to the defence ecosystem.

Management says the unit is well positioned to “leverage the growth in Australian SME defence businesses which require higher-value managed IT and cyber security services.”

It’s a steady, cash-neutral business that allows Adisyn to fund high-risk, high-reward R&D without over-reliance on capital markets.

The bigger picture

The semiconductor race is heating up as Moore’s Law stretches toward its limits.

Every new node forces engineers to chase thinner lines, cooler temperatures and more efficient materials. Interconnects, once the invisible plumbing of chips, have become the new bottleneck.

Adisyn’s low-temperature graphene strategy is an ambitious attempt to remove that barrier entirely. The science is complex, but the goal is simple: make chips faster, cooler and more efficient by re-wiring the world at the atomic level.

If its process proves out over the next few quarters, Adisyn could potentially become one of the few companies globally positioned at the intersection of graphene, AI and semiconductor miniaturisation.

Because in the race to the next generation of computing, whoever solves the heat problem, wins.

This article was developed in collaboration with Adisyn, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.