Evince Technology secures £750K to develop semi-conductors with synthetic diamond

An innovative firm which is harnessing the technological power of diamonds has successfully raised £750,000 to drive its work forward.

Stockon-on-Tees-based Evince Technology is developing semi-conductor devices using synthetic diamond, which is considered by experts to be the ultimate semiconductor material.

The company’s goal is to manufacture synthetic diamond-based electronics, aiming to work with developers and manufacturing partners under licence and  help a whole range of industries to tap into the thermal and electronic properties that diamond can deliver.

The firm announced it has successfully closed its largest funding round since relaunching in 2013, raising £750,240 of new equity investment from business angels and other private investors. A quarter of the total was raised via Syndicate Room in just 10 days (£189K) resulting in the round being over-funded by £100K, which was the maximum agreed by the company at the outset.  This latest investment, together with a £230K Innovate UK award secured in late 2015, will allow Evince to accelerate key aspects of its technology development programme while continuing to strengthen its patent portfolio.

Synthetic diamond can be used for a range of applications, including power electronics, extreme environment devices, ultra-high frequency devices and advanced computation.

Lead investor James Morton said: “Following extensive due diligence our investor group believes Evince has a unique practical approach to realising electronics using synthetic diamond.

“Diamond offers the potential to yield devices that are up to 100 times faster than silicon and could therefore revolutionise electronics across a broad range of industries and multi-billion dollar markets.

“Our investment decision was based, amongst other things, on the professionalism of the company’s approach, its passion and determination to succeed, and in particular its rigorous development programme to deliver first prototype solid-state diamond electronic devices.”

Evince chairman Phil Cammerman said: “This latest funding round is a major milestone in the company’s development. It is the largest new investment since Evince restructured its business in 2013 and a significant endorsement for the company’s strategy and technology.

“Our aim is to work more closely with partners across a wide range of target applications where we believe our novel diamond technology has the potential to deliver the quantum leap in performance over silicon that the industry is urgently looking for.”

Evince was re-launched in 2013 to focus on development of a robust core technology and to expand its target applications, whereas previously the company had planned to develop and market its own products for the power and energy sectors.

The new strategy will see the company work with partners to define products and target applications, then licence its patented synthetic diamond processing technologies to their semiconductor manufacturing partners.