Background

Xzero has developed a new technology to produce ultrapure water for the manufacturers of nanochips. The manufacturing of nanochips requires the highest level of purity in its process water and Xzero works with several of the leading companies and institutions in the industry.

Research and development have been conducted at two locations. The first being at Xzero’s lab in Bromma outside of Stockholm. The second being a demonstration facility, which is installed at the municipal water treatment plant “Hammarby sjöstadsverk” in Stockholm, in collaboration with the Swedish Environmental Institute (IVL) and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). For a number of years, Xzero has – based on its tests and experience – worked on developing a commercial product.

A couple of years ago, one customer asked Xzero if we would be able to build a small lab module similar to the one already existing at Xzero’s laboratory in Bromma, at KTH and at some other research institutes in the world. The idea was that the customer would have the opportunity to develop peripherals, measurement methods, etc. which could then be commercialized in collaboration with Xzero.

Xzero accepted the customer’s request and decided to first build a copy of the existing and well-functioning lab equipment that had been sold to various international research institutes. However, after a market study, Xzero decided to develop a fully commercial lab unit that could be sold across the industry and not only to a few specific customers.

It turned out that most industrial companies and research institutions have several laboratories and that most of these needs clean water. Based on the concept of better quality at a lower price, we saw a large market ahead of us.

Developments

Xzero therefore started a subsidiary to develop and market a specific product, Nanocap. During the spring of 2021, this subsidiary – Type1water AB – was divided out to the shareholders of Xzero and became an independent public company with the rights to the technology and products in the field. Since then, the first product Nanocap has been developed and three Nanocap units have been produced. One is at imec for long term testing. One is used for refinement and R & D and the third was sent to Bosch.

After collaboration with Bosch where a DFMA was made at least two production companies were identified for production of the Nanocap.

Now

The testing at imec has been very successful and has up to now given us very good test results, proving Nanocaps technical height. This has led to imec prolonging the testing and looking at incorporating of the nanocap in a two-year project for cleaning processor wafers.

Discussions are ongoing with competitors on the lab water market regarding collaborations or joint ventures. This is all due to the good progress we had with the nanocap, enabling those discussions.