A small Norwegian startup called Lace Lithography has just raised $40 million in Series A funding to develop what could be the next great leap in chipmaking: a lithography system that replaces light with helium atoms to pattern semiconductor wafers at atomic resolution.
The round was led by Atomico, the European venture capital firm, with participation from Microsoft's M12 venture fund. The investment signals growing confidence that the semiconductor industry is approaching the physical limits of light-based manufacturing — and that atoms might be the answer.
Beyond the Limits of Light
Modern chip manufacturing relies on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, a technology pioneered by Dutch giant ASML. EUV uses light with a wavelength of 13.5 nanometers to etch circuit patterns onto silicon wafers. It's an engineering marvel — but it's approaching fundamental physical limits.
Lace's approach is radically different. Instead of photons, the company uses a beam of metastable helium atoms — atoms excited to a high energy state — to pattern wafers. The beam width? Just 0.1 nanometers, roughly 135 times narrower than ASML's EUV light. That means, in principle, Lace's technology could create chip features an order of magnitude smaller than anything possible today.
How Helium Atom Beam Lithography Works
The technique exploits a property of metastable helium atoms: when they strike a surface, they release their stored energy in a precisely controlled way, modifying the material at the point of contact. Because helium atoms are electrically neutral, they don't suffer from the charging effects that plague electron beam lithography, and they can be focused to incredibly tight spots.
"We're not trying to replace EUV overnight," said Lace CEO Thomas Clear. "We're building a complementary technology that can extend the semiconductor roadmap by enabling features that light simply cannot resolve."
The Chip Industry's Scaling Problem
The semiconductor industry has followed Moore's Law for decades — roughly doubling the number of transistors on a chip every two years. But as features shrink below 2 nanometers, the industry is running out of tricks. High-NA EUV, the next generation of ASML's machines, costs upward of $380 million per unit and is still limited by the wavelength of light.
Lace isn't the only company exploring alternative patterning methods, but its helium atom approach is among the most promising because it combines atomic-scale resolution with practical throughput potential. The company has been developing the technology at the University of Bergen since 2018 and now employs roughly 40 engineers and physicists.
Microsoft's Interest
Microsoft's involvement through its M12 venture arm reflects the tech giant's growing interest in custom chip design for its Azure cloud and AI infrastructure. As AI workloads demand ever more powerful and efficient processors, advances in chipmaking technology become strategically critical.
"The computing demands of AI are growing exponentially," said an M12 spokesperson. "Investments in next-generation manufacturing are investments in the future of computing itself."
What Comes Next
Lace plans to use the funding to build its first prototype lithography tool and begin working with semiconductor manufacturers on pilot programs. The company estimates it could have a production-ready system within five to seven years — roughly aligned with the timeline when the industry expects to need post-EUV solutions.
If successful, Lace's technology could help keep Moore's Law alive for another generation, enabling chips that are smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient than anything on the market today. For an industry that has defied physical limits time and again, a beam of helium atoms might just be the next breakthrough it needs.
