This proposal describes the third core project of the Graphene Flagship. It forms the fourth phase of the FET flagship and is characterized by a continued transition towards higher technology readiness levels, without jeopardizing our strong commitment to fundamental research. Compared to the second core project, this phase includes a substantial increase in the market-motivated technological spearhead projects, which account for about 30% of the overall budget. The broader fundamental and applied research themes are pursued by 15 work packages and supported by four work packages on innovation, industrialization, dissemination and management. The consortium that is involved in this project includes over 150 academic and industrial partners in over 20 European countries.

The 2D Experimental Pilot Line (2D-EPL) project will establish a European ecosystem for prototype production of Graphene and Related Materials (GRM) based electronics, photonics and sensors. The project will cover the whole value chain including tool manufacturers, chemical and material providers and pilot lines to offer prototyping services to companies, research centers and academics. The 2D-EPL targets to the adoption of GRM integration by commercial semiconductor foundries and integrated device manufacturers through technology transfer and licensing. The project is built on two pillars. In Pillar 1, the 2D-EPL will offer prototyping services for 150 and 200 mm wafers, based on the current state of the art graphene device manufacturing and integration techniques. This will ensure external users and customers are served by the 2D-EPL early in the project and guarantees the inclusion of their input in the development of the final processes by providing the specifications on required device layouts, materials and device performances. In Pillar 2, the consortium will develop a fully automated process flow on 200 and 300 mm wafers, including the growth and vacuum transfer of single crystalline graphene and TMDCs. The knowledge gained in Pillar 2 will be transferred to Pillar 1 to continuously improve the baseline process provided by the 2D-EPL. To ensure sustainability of the 2D-EPL service after the project duration, integration with EUROPRACTICE consortium will be prepared. It provides for the European actors a platform to develop smart integrated systems, from advanced prototype design to small volume production. In addition, for the efficiency of the industrial exploitation, an Industrial Advisory Board consisting mainly of leading European semiconductor manufacturers and foundries will closely track and advise the progress of the 2D-EPL. This approach will enable European players to take the lead in this emerging field of technology.

The imaging industry is experiencing a paradigm shift due to megatrends such as autonomous cars, the metaverse and service robotics, all applications powered by computer vision (CV). This subset of artificial intelligence (Al) is expected to contribute more than €2 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Present imaging technologies were designed to fulfil the needs of humans for high-quality photography but not for machines. Autonomous and intelligent systems will require re-inventing image sensors to deliver reliability and resilience under low-visibility conditions while increasing the amount of information they capture and analyse. Qurv, a company operating in this space that brings together unique world expertise, has identified power consumption and toxic materials as the common drawbacks of current solutions, hindering mass-market uptake. To address these challenges, the project QSTACK will develop and validate a wide-spectrum image sensor technology and business case that delivers unprecedented cost performance to mass-market, power-sensitive computer vision applications. This ambitious overarching aim will be achieved through the following objectives: i. Achieve the integration of high-performance wide-spectrum CMOS / TMDC / heavy-metal-free stack SWIR sensitive image sensors as demonstrated by imaging and electrical characterisation analysis. ii. Achieve a reduction of the total image sensor’s power consumption, enabled by a >1,000x decrease in the pixel engine power consumption. iii. Increase the investment readiness of QSTACK, as demonstrated by the number of early users interested in pilots and evaluation kits, together with the creation of investment material. QSTACK envisions putting the European semiconductor industry in an advantageous position to seize the opportunity in mass-market computer vision applications that will have an enormous impact on consumer electronics, personalised health, and safe mobility.

From the late 1950s, Computer Vision (CV), a significant field of artificial intelligence (AI), began to be the tool to realize human intelligence and perception. Today, the global computer vision market has a value of over $11 billion and will reach $19 billion in 2027. Current computer vision systems suffer from high power consumption and limited reliability due to the low amount of information captured and sensor malfunction in adverse conditions such as fog, darkness, and bright sunlight. The 2DNEURALVISION project aims to develop the enabling photonic and electronic integrated circuit components for a novel low-power consumption, any weather, any light computer vision system. These components are a 2DM enhanced wide-spectrum image sensor and optical neural network with enabling 2DM components. Non-toxic materials and new waferscale, CMOS-compatible back-end-of-line integration processes for 2DMs will be developed to show compatibility with high-volume markets. The developments in the 2DNEURALVISION project will result in reliable (any weather, any light), low cost (1000x lower), low power consumption (30x lower), and small form factor (1000x lower) computer vision systems. This will have enormous societal impacts by enabling disruptive improvements in the automotive, AR/VR, service robotic, and mobile device sectors.