Spanish Spin-off Develops SWIR Sensors From Graphene And QDs
QurvTechnologies will develop wide-spectrum image sensor technologies and integrated solutions to enable enhanced computer vision applications
Barcelona's Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) has launched a spin-off company, Qurv Technologies, which develops wide-spectrum image sensor technologies and integrated solutions for computer vision applications. Members of the founding team are pictured above: (L to R) Lluis Torner, Emila Pola (ICREA), Antonios Antonios Oikonomou Stijn Goossens, Frank Koppens, Gerasimos Konstantatos, and Silvia Carrasco.
Qurv's graphene/quantum dot image sensors platform technology allow operation from the visible to the short-wave infrared (SWIR) range and can be integrated with current CMOS low-cost, high-manufacturability processes. Qurv's "plug and play" approach aims to bring advanced machine vision capabilities to markets that are not accessible by the current state of the art SWIR sensors.
Antonios Oikonomou, Qurv's CEO, comments, "Nature itself hides a vast amount of information beyond what is visible. By harnessing and efficiently processing this information, a new era in health, security and decision-making will emerge. However, no mass-deployable solution exists to provide these capabilities at scale and to everyone. With the immense support of the KTT unit at ICFO, we are now ready to achieve precisely this- to bring a technology once available only in the lab to the world.”
Stijn Goossens, the company's CTO adds: “Our unprecedented expertise of the graphene/quantum dot stack puts us in an optimal position to leverage the benefits of integration with silicon CMOS technology in terms of functionality, performance and addressable markets. World-renowned experts in graphene, Frank Koppens and quantum dots, Gerasimos Konstantatos, have been key in the early technology development. We are delighted to announce that they will take up the role of scientific advisors to the company while further maturing the technology.”
Qurv incubated in the KTT Launchpad for more than six years and holds a portfolio of more than ten patent families. The incubation has received support from the Government of Catalonia, the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain, the European Research Council, the Barcelona City Council and the Castelldefels City Council, the European Regional Development Funds allocated to Generalitat de Catalunya for emerging technology clusters devoted to the valorization and transfer of research results (GraphCAT 001-P-001702) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 649953.
