I would've liked to read more about what they're doing, but their website fab2.com is unhelpful. Very little info, presented in pointless swirling animations that hijack your scroll action.
Yes, the web site is all effects, no content. It's like an old Flash site.
E-beam machines work fine for prototyping. People have been doing that since the 1970s. But they're slow. It's a prototyping technology. The sort of thing that "3D print everything" people like. E-beam machines with many beams have been mentioned, but never seemed to be worth it.
There are companies which offer E-beam IC fab as a service. Some cater to DoD and the intelligence community.[2] (That's for when you really can't trust your supply chain and want your own ICs fabbed.) Others are more commercial, but are in China.[3]
They claim to be building all the machines needed for a fab. But they don't have a list, or pictures. There's a used market in that gear, and no reason to build it all yourself.
It's not a fundamentally bad idea, but the hype is strong here.
E-beam machines work fine for prototyping. People have been doing that since the 1970s. But they're slow. It's a prototyping technology. The sort of thing that "3D print everything" people like. E-beam machines with many beams have been mentioned, but never seemed to be worth it.
There are companies which offer E-beam IC fab as a service. Some cater to DoD and the intelligence community.[2] (That's for when you really can't trust your supply chain and want your own ICs fabbed.) Others are more commercial, but are in China.[3]
They claim to be building all the machines needed for a fab. But they don't have a list, or pictures. There's a used market in that gear, and no reason to build it all yourself.
It's not a fundamentally bad idea, but the hype is strong here.
[1] https://www.machinio.com/semiconductors
[2] https://www.hrl.com/laboratories/mtl
[3] https://en.omedasemi.com/electron_beam_lithography.html