While many people were worried what the construction of the tågtunneln the Västlänken railway tunnel to take the lead for högteknologiföretaget Smoltek your digging and production with the ro. A little surprising, given that the company’s operations are extremely dependent on a clean and vibration-free environment, but so is the research and development of kolnanostrukturer, which belongs to the world elite, in one of the most controlled environments in the country, one can imagine a laboratory at Chalmers university of technology, where particles of dust are not welcome.

– In certain areas we accept only one particle per cubic feet – and then we are talking about particles that are one hundredth of a human hair, ” says the development director Vincent Desmaris before our walking tour.

as we enter in, through a special technology “floats” inside another property to avoid the slightest outside influence. The ”clean room” was built largely with the help of research grants at a cost of a quarter of a billion. The instruments in here cost almost twice as much.

Vincent Desmaris, head of development, Anders and Johansson, ceo at Smoltek. Photo: Peter Claesson

Inside the glass panes in an environment with machinery that brings to mind the cartoon of the fairy tale professor Balthazar working personnel in protective clothing that has only one opening for the eye, nose, mouth.

Here, rent Smoltek in here to develop the kolnanostrukturer ceo n Anders Johansson is convinced is a necessity for the future of computing.

, named after Gordon Moore, one of the company Intel’s co-founder, and says that the number of transistors that can fit on a chip is growing exponentially and doubles every 18 months. Now, the pace has slowed, the law is not true anymore, and it requires new solutions, especially if more technology with artificial intelligence and faster processors will become a reality.

– We note that the companies that we work with have gone from skeptical curiosity to a lot of interest, ” says Johansson, and explains that the development of nanotechnology and semiconductors is a long and patient process.

to go from idea to commercial product. Smoltek was founded by a former Chalmersstudent, Shafiq Kabir from Bangladesh. Vincent Desmaris came with in the company in 2004, and Anders Johansson of the following year.

– If all goes as we plan we will sign our first licensing agreement this year. So the 15 years is true, ” says Johansson.

Foto: Peter Claesson

In today’s ever-faster spinning digital world of computer-based electronics have the so-called semiconductors a central role. They are found in computers, mobile phones and in the car. The problem is that the components of today’s circuits are so high that they easily become overheated and slow. The transistors have become so small that it has become difficult and expensive to get more. Instead, try to find ways to optimize its chips

and apply kolstrukturerna on silicon is Smoltekledningen convinced that you can significantly improve the performance of the transistors.

“But we must be able to show that it really works well,” says Johansson and proudly displays a scanning electron microscope.

Vincent Desmaris fill in:

– Here we study carbon fibre which is a 100 000-part of a hair, says he, the professor, who came to Sweden and Chalmers university of technology from France for more than 20 years ago and stayed.

Smoltek, who have had faithful investors through the years, noted in the last year on the stock market and became a success. According to the news agency Direkt compilation was Smoltek the newcomer, in 2018, whose share price went best, even if it fell after the task that you are not gained a license in 2018.

According to Anders Johansson, the agreement is now underway and he believes that it will be followed by more and Smoltek, which today has eight employees, will continue to grow.

the Interest in what is going on in the lab at Chalmers university of technology is huge – both in Asia and in Silicon Valley.