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Smoltek Semi­con­duc­tors

Powering next-gen AI chips with ultra-thin capacitors

CNF-MIM tech­nol­o­gy pro­vides a capac­i­tance den­si­ty of over 1 µF/​mm² in an ultra-thin 6 µm pro­file that fits under­neath chips. Our addi­tive man­u­fac­tur­ing process works on sil­i­con, glass, alu­minum, and oth­er sub­strates using a sin­gle atom­ic lay­er depo­si­tion cycle, reduc­ing pro­duc­tion costs com­pared to deep trench alter­na­tives. This com­bi­na­tion of high per­for­mance and design flex­i­bil­i­ty gives elec­tron­ics man­u­fac­tur­ers and capac­i­tor pro­duc­ers a prac­ti­cal solu­tion for next-gen­er­a­tion minia­tur­iza­tion demands.

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Key technology partners

Our offer

CNF-MIM capacitors enables high-performance electronics across industries

Smoltek Semi­’s CNF-MIM tech­nol­o­gy pro­vides a capac­i­tance den­si­ty of over 1 µF/​mm² in an ultra-thin 6 µm pro­file that fits under­neath chips. Our addi­tive man­u­fac­tur­ing process works on sil­i­con, glass, alu­minum, and oth­er sub­strates using a sin­gle atom­ic lay­er depo­si­tion cycle, reduc­ing pro­duc­tion costs com­pared to deep trench alter­na­tives. This com­bi­na­tion of high per­for­mance and design flex­i­bil­i­ty gives elec­tron­ics man­u­fac­tur­ers and capac­i­tor pro­duc­ers a prac­ti­cal solu­tion for next-gen­er­a­tion elec­tron­ic appli­ca­tions, from AI and HPC to auto­mo­tive sys­tems and aero­space tech­nol­o­gy. Here is just a few exam­ples of all the appli­ca­tions for CNF-MIM capacitors.

AI & HPC

AI work­loads and high-per­for­mance com­put­ing (HPC) demand excep­tion­al pow­er deliv­ery with up to eight times more capac­i­tors than tra­di­tion­al servers. CNF-MIM tech­nol­o­gy pro­vides supe­ri­or capac­i­tance den­si­ty where con­ven­tion­al MLCCs reach their phys­i­cal limits.

Premium Smartphones

Sil­i­con DTC solu­tions are cost­ly and lim­it design flex­i­bil­i­ty. CNF-MIM capac­i­tors deliv­er ultra-thin pro­files with max­i­mum capac­i­tance at a frac­tion of the cost, enabling clos­er place­ment to proces­sors for improved performance.

Wearables

Build­ing capac­i­tors on unusu­al sub­strates like glass and flex­i­ble mate­ri­als lim­its design pos­si­bil­i­ties. CNF-MIM can be man­u­fac­tured on vir­tu­al­ly any sub­strate, enabling thin­ner designs with longer bat­tery life.

Telecom

High-fre­quen­cy 5G appli­ca­tions require excep­tion­al sta­bil­i­ty and low loss­es. CNF-MIM deliv­ers enhanced sta­bil­i­ty for high-fre­quen­cy com­mu­ni­ca­tion and RF cir­cuits with min­i­mal sig­nal degra­da­tion where tra­di­tion­al capac­i­tors intro­duce unwant­ed impedance.

Automotive

Advanced dri­ver assis­tance sys­tems and EV elec­tron­ics face vibra­tion, tem­per­a­ture vari­a­tions, and strict safe­ty require­ments. CNF-MIM tech­nol­o­gy pro­vides robust per­for­mance for ADAS sen­sors and pow­er man­age­ment with auto­mo­tive-qual­i­fied reliability.

Defense & Aerospace

Mil­i­tary appli­ca­tions demand com­po­nents that with­stand extreme envi­ron­ments with zero tol­er­ance for fail­ure. As dual-use tech­nol­o­gy, CNF-MIM offers mil­i­tary-grade per­for­mance for radar, com­mu­ni­ca­tion sys­tems, and avionics.

About us

Built on 20+ years of carbon nanotechnology research

Our approach com­bines 20+ years of car­bon nan­otech­nol­o­gy research from Chalmers Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­nol­o­gy, patent pro­tec­tion across major semi­con­duc­tor mar­kets, and a team where most R&D staff hold Ph.D.s in nan­otech­nol­o­gy and semi­con­duc­tor processes.

From university research to industrial applications

Smoltek was found­ed in December2005, as a spin-off from research at Chalmers Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­nol­o­gy with a focus on pre­cise­ly con­trol­ling car­bon nanos­truc­ture growth. Since then, Smoltek has devel­oped this tech­nol­o­gy into prac­ti­cal man­u­fac­tur­ing process­es. Today, Smoltek Semi applies this proven tech­nol­o­gy plat­form to meet the elec­tron­ic indus­try’s need for ultra-thin, high-den­si­ty decou­pling capacitors.

Patent portfolio covering core technology and processes

Smoltek’s intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty port­fo­lio includes over 120 patents (grant­ed and pend­ing) cov­er­ing core car­bon nan­otech­nol­o­gy, com­po­nent struc­tures, and man­u­fac­tur­ing process­es. This pro­tec­tion spans major mar­kets includ­ing the US, Europe, Chi­na, Japan, and Korea, with a sub­stan­tial focus on the semi­con­duc­tor industry.

Deep technical knowledge from research to manufacturing

Most of our R&D team holds Ph.D.s in mate­ri­als sci­ence, nan­otech­nol­o­gy, or semi­con­duc­tor engi­neer­ing. Our tech­ni­cal depth spans from fun­da­men­tal car­bon nan­otube growth to inte­gra­tion in semi­con­duc­tor manufacturing.

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Our process

From initial samples to commercial production

We work with indus­tri­al part­ners through a struc­tured devel­op­ment process that aligns with how large enter­pris­es eval­u­ate and inte­grate new tech­nolo­gies. Each stage builds on the pre­vi­ous one, with clear tech­ni­cal and com­mer­cial milestones.

Technical evaluation and samples

We pro­vide engi­neer­ing sam­ples of our CNF-MIM capac­i­tors for your ini­tial test­ing. Your tech­ni­cal team gets direct access to our R&D engi­neers to dis­cuss per­for­mance data, man­u­fac­tur­ing para­me­ters, and poten­tial appli­ca­tions. This stage typ­i­cal­ly involves lab-scale test­ing to val­i­date basic func­tion­al­i­ty and compatibility.

Formal collaboration and feasibility study

Fol­low­ing pos­i­tive ini­tial results, we estab­lish a for­mal col­lab­o­ra­tion agree­ment. This can take the form of a joint devel­op­ment project, fea­si­bil­i­ty study, or tech­ni­cal advi­so­ry agree­ment. We con­duct detailed analy­sis of tech­ni­cal require­ments, man­u­fac­tur­ing inte­gra­tion, and com­mer­cial via­bil­i­ty spe­cif­ic to your applications.

Licensing agreement and design integration

With proven tech­ni­cal and com­mer­cial fea­si­bil­i­ty, we forge a licens­ing part­ner­ship. You gain access to our IP port­fo­lio, man­u­fac­tur­ing know-how, and design doc­u­men­ta­tion. Your engi­neer­ing teams can then per­form detailed design work and inte­grate our tech­nol­o­gy into your pro­duc­tion processes.

Production support and ongoing development

Our rela­tion­ship con­tin­ues through com­mer­cial pro­duc­tion. Your team retains access to our R&D spe­cial­ists for tech­ni­cal sup­port, process opti­miza­tion, and co-devel­op­ment of next-gen­er­a­tion solu­tions. This ensures con­tin­u­ous improve­ment and helps address evolv­ing requirements.

Fea­tures

How CNF-MIM technology addresses industry challenges

Tra­di­tion­al capac­i­tor man­u­fac­tur­ing faces fun­da­men­tal lim­i­ta­tions as devices shrink and per­for­mance require­ments increase. Our CNF-MIM approach solves these prob­lems through a dif­fer­ent man­u­fac­tur­ing phi­los­o­phy and mate­ri­als approach.

High-density 3D capacitors

We grow car­bon nanofibers to cre­ate mas­sive sur­face area with­in min­i­mal space, then deposit our met­al-insu­la­tor-met­al struc­ture. This addi­tive approach allows pre­cise con­trol of fiber length and den­si­ty for opti­mal capacitance.

Substrate flexibility

CNF-MIM capac­i­tors can be man­u­fac­tured on sil­i­con, glass, alu­minum, and oth­er sub­strates. This flex­i­bil­i­ty sup­ports emerg­ing pack­ag­ing approach­es, includ­ing the indus­try shift toward glass interposers.

Single ALD cycle processing

Our man­u­fac­tur­ing process requires only one atom­ic lay­er depo­si­tion cycle to deposit the dielec­tric lay­er. This stream­lined approach reduces pro­duc­tion time and costs in high-vol­ume manufacturing.

Optimized dielectric stack

We use a pro­pri­etary ZrO₂–Al₂O₃ dielec­tric stack devel­oped specif­i­cal­ly for car­bon nanofiber geom­e­try. This com­bi­na­tion deliv­ers the elec­tri­cal prop­er­ties need­ed for high-den­si­ty capacitors.

Tes­ti­mo­ni­al

Industry expert perspective on CNF-MIM technology

Lis­ten as Dr. Philip Less­ner pro­vide his expert analy­sis of CNF-MIM tech­nol­o­gy. Dr. Less­ner is a rec­og­nized expert in pas­sive elec­tron­ic com­po­nents with over 25 years of expe­ri­ence. Since 1996, Dr. Less­ner has spe­cial­ized in capac­i­tors and oth­er pas­sive com­po­nents, and he holds numer­ous patents and pub­li­ca­tions in this field. The inter­view was record­ed dur­ing his tenure as Chief Tech­nol­o­gy Offi­cer at Yageo Group, one of the world’s largest com­po­nent manufacturers.

Fre­quent­ly asked questions

What performance can CNF-MIM achieve?

We have demon­strat­ed 1 µF/​mm² (1,000 nF/​mm²) capac­i­tance den­si­ty with an active lay­er thick­ness of just 6 µm. This com­bi­na­tion of high capac­i­tance and ultra-thin pro­file makes the tech­nol­o­gy suit­able for under-chip inte­gra­tion where height con­straints are crit­i­cal. Pro­to­types using our ZrO₂–Al₂O₃ dielec­tric stack have passed tem­per­a­ture and volt­age stress test­ing. Our devel­op­ment roadmap tar­gets 3,000 nF/​mm² in future generations.

How is CNF-MIM manufactured?

We oper­ate a fab­less mod­el with estab­lished man­u­fac­tur­ing part­ner­ships. ITRI han­dles front-end wafer pro­cess­ing while Tong Hsing pro­vides back-end assem­bly and test­ing. Our addi­tive process uses stan­dard semi­con­duc­tor equip­ment and can be inte­grat­ed into exist­ing pro­duc­tion lines. We pro­vide com­plete tech­nol­o­gy trans­fer pack­ages includ­ing process spec­i­fi­ca­tions and qual­i­ty con­trol procedures.

What does a licensing involve?

Our licens­ing mod­el includes three com­po­nents: upfront licens­ing fees for patent access, non-recur­ring engi­neer­ing fees for inte­gra­tion sup­port and qual­i­fi­ca­tion assis­tance, and pro­duc­tion roy­al­ties based on net sales of prod­ucts incor­po­rat­ing our tech­nol­o­gy. The spe­cif­ic terms are struc­tured based on your appli­ca­tion and vol­ume requirements.

What applications is addressed?

We start with dis­crete capac­i­tors for imme­di­ate mar­ket appli­ca­tions. The devel­op­ment roadmap includes embed­ded capac­i­tors with­in chip pack­ag­ing sub­strates, fol­lowed by on-chip inte­gra­tion for place­ment close to proces­sors. Each step requires spe­cif­ic tech­ni­cal adap­ta­tions but builds on the same core CNF-MIM platform.

What support do you provide?

Our R&D team works direct­ly with your engi­neer­ing teams through­out the inte­gra­tion process. This includes design opti­miza­tion for your spe­cif­ic appli­ca­tions, process para­me­ter adjust­ment, qual­i­fi­ca­tion test­ing sup­port, and ongo­ing tech­ni­cal con­sul­ta­tion. We main­tain this rela­tion­ship through pro­duc­tion and future prod­uct development.

Your questions answered

Eval­u­at­ing new capac­i­tor tech­nol­o­gy requires under­stand­ing per­for­mance spec­i­fi­ca­tions, man­u­fac­tur­ing require­ments, and inte­gra­tion path­ways. Here are answers to com­mon ques­tions about CNF-MIM tech­nol­o­gy from our tech­ni­cal dis­cus­sions with indus­try partners.

We active­ly seek part­ner­ships with capac­i­tor man­u­fac­tur­ers and elec­tron­ics com­pa­nies to bring CNF-MIM tech­nol­o­gy to mar­ket. Our R&D team works direct­ly with prospec­tive part­ners to eval­u­ate com­mer­cial opportunities.

Con­tact us

Our Promise

How we will work with you

We under­stand that adopt­ing dis­rup­tive tech­nol­o­gy requires trans­paren­cy and pre­dictabil­i­ty. Our part­ner­ship approach focus­es on work­ing togeth­er through each tech­ni­cal and com­mer­cial mile­stone in a dis­ci­plined and struc­tured way.

Minimize upfront risk

You don’t need to com­mit to a full-scale license right away. We rec­om­mend start­ing with spe­cif­ic projects, such as fea­si­bil­i­ty stud­ies or joint devel­op­ment work, to address par­tic­u­lar tech­ni­cal issues. This approach enables your engi­neer­ing teams to val­i­date our tech­nol­o­gy with­in your exist­ing sys­tems and appli­ca­tions before mak­ing larg­er commitments.

Clear development timeline with measurable goals

We fol­low a struc­tured devel­op­ment plan with spe­cif­ic per­for­mance tar­gets for each gen­er­a­tion. Gen-One sam­ples have demon­strat­ed 1 µF/​mm² capac­i­tance den­si­ty with 6 µm thick­ness. Gen-Two (2026) and Gen-Three (2027) build on these proven results to achieve high­er per­for­mance tar­gets. We only advance to the next gen­er­a­tion after meet­ing val­i­dat­ed per­for­mance and reli­a­bil­i­ty criteria.

Complete technical capability from research to manufacturing

We cov­er all aspects of CNF-MIM devel­op­ment, pro­vid­ing sup­port through­out your eval­u­a­tion and imple­men­ta­tion process:

  • Research basis: Our tech­nol­o­gy orig­i­nates from research in car­bon nan­otech­nol­o­gy at the Depart­ment of Microtech­nol­o­gy and Nanoscience (MC2), Chalmers Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­nol­o­gy, begin­ning in 2000. Since Smoltek was found­ed in 2005, we have main­tained a close col­lab­o­ra­tion with Chalmers researchers and con­tin­ue using their spe­cial­ized lab­o­ra­to­ry equip­ment for ongo­ing devel­op­ment as well as hav­ing our own R&D tools at the MC2 laboratory.
  • Process devel­op­ment: We have devel­oped both patent­ed meth­ods and deep know-how for trans­fer our car­bon nanofiber research into man­u­fac­tur­ing process­es. Our patents cov­er the growth and coat­ing tech­niques, while our know-how encom­pass­es the prac­ti­cal details need­ed for con­sis­tent man­u­fac­tur­ing. This com­bi­na­tion enables us to trans­fer lab­o­ra­to­ry results to indus­tri­al-scale man­u­fac­tur­ing using CMOS-stan­dard semi­con­duc­tor equipment.
  • Man­u­fac­tur­ing part­ner­ships: We have estab­lished part­ner­ships that cre­ate a seam­less path from lab to fab for com­mer­cial pro­duc­tion. ITRI, Taiwan’s pre­mier research insti­tute, han­dles front-end wafer pro­cess­ing, while Tong Hsing man­ages back-end assem­bly and test­ing. These estab­lished rela­tion­ships demon­strate our technology’s readi­ness for scal­ing from lab­o­ra­to­ry sam­ples to pro­duc­tion volumes.

This com­plete capa­bil­i­ty means we can sup­port your project from ini­tial sam­ples through com­mer­cial manufacturing.

Whitepa­per

Introducing Smoltek carbon nanofiber technology

A deep dive into the tech­nol­o­gy behind CNF-MIM – get your free copy from Smoltek. This is not a mar­ket­ing brochure, but a 10-page tech­ni­cal whitepa­per authored by our nan­otech­nol­o­gy researchers. Learn about the fun­da­men­tal prop­er­ties of car­bon nanofibers, the cat­alyt­ic growth process, and the appli­ca­tions enabled by the technology.

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