Paragraf to make 2D MoS₂ for £6.4m EPSRC project
UK-based 2D electronics firm Paragraf is expanding its production capabilities to produce the ultra thin 2D compound semiconductor MoS₂ for a £6.4m EPSRC-funded research programme aimed at dramatically reducing energy demands of data centres and high-performance computing..
The programme 'Enabling Net Zero and the AI Revolution with Ultra-Low Energy 2D Materials and Devices' (NEED2D) brings together Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) with 22 industrial partners spanning the full supply chain, from precursor chemicals and growth equipment through to device end users. Paragraf is currently the sole supplier of 2D materials.
Paragraf, the principal industrial partner in the programme, will supply high-quality, large-area MoS₂ drawing directly on the process expertise developed producing wafer-scale graphene. It will work in close collaboration with Queen Mary University of London on device research.
The growth of AI has driven an unprecedented rise in data centre energy consumption. The prevailing response has been to build more generating capacity, at a cost of billions of pounds. This programme takes a different approach: reducing demand at source by addressing why computing consumes so much energy in the first place.
Data centres consume electricity on this scale because the devices inside them are inefficient. Every computer contains silicon transistors, and a significant proportion of the energy they draw is lost as heat rather than spent on computation.
MoS₂ offers a route to more efficient devices. It is a semiconductor but structurally it resembles a three-atom sandwich, with a layer of molybdenum between two layers of sulphur. Transistors made with a channel of monolayer MoS₂ exhibit a high on/off current ratio with an extremely low leakage current when in the off state, due to their thinness, making them highly power efficient.
MoS₂ can be integrated onto existing silicon structures or operate as a standalone semiconductor, offering the potential to scale, beyond the fundamental limits of silicon. The programme is targeting devices that consume up to 90 percent less energy than conventional silicon equivalents.
Simon Thomas, CEO and co-founder of Paragraf, said: "Paragraf has spent years learning how to grow high-quality two-dimensional materials at scale, and MoS₂ is a natural extension of that capability. This programme is a clear example of the world-leading research which the UK excels at, with a clear industrial route, a complete domestic supply chain, and sovereign capability in the materials that will underpin the next generation of computing. This is exactly the type of research that will make the UK’s AI superpower ambitions a reality."
Colin Humphreys of Queen Mary University of London, and the Project lead in the RPSRC-funded project, said: “We lived through the silicon age, and we are now working to succeed it. Silicon transistors lose more energy to heat than they spend on calculation, and that inefficiency is now being multiplied across every data centre in the world.
"2D materials such as MoS₂ offer an exciting route towards more energy-efficient electronics. Paragraf has already demonstrated wafer-scale production of high-quality MoS₂, building on its pioneering expertise in large-area graphene. This collaboration marks the next step in developing and applying that capability to electronic devices, with the potential to deliver a new generation of more energy-efficient technologies.”
