The Archer Materials Ltd (ASX: AXE) share price has retreated in late-afternoon trade after soaring as high as 93.5 cents. This comes after the company announced that it has begun to progress on the pathway for sub-10 nanometre biochip fabrication.
At the time of writing, the advanced material company's shares are fetching 90 cents apiece, flat for the day.
Development plans
Archer shares were trading on a high earlier on but have since fallen back to yesterday's market close.
According to its release, Archer advised it has commenced development to produce biochip components that are under 10 nanometres (nm) in size. In comparison, a human hair is around 75 microns or 75,000 nm.
Archer noted that miniaturisation to below 10 nm is a key requirement for the operation and end-use of its biochip. Anything less than 10nm is considered as best-in-class across the semiconductor industry.
The company explained that if successful in creating prototype biochip devices, it would remove significant barriers to entry. This includes pattern design and process optimisation, for on-chip fabrication of biosensor components.
What did the CEO say?
Archer CEO, Dr Mohammad Choucair touched on the company's nanofabrication development, saying:
Archer has progressed to one of the most advanced forms of nanofabrication after recently translating biosensor components onto silicon wafers. We are expanding on this strength with in-house capability to build a robust biochip IP portfolio. This is key to Archer's long-term growth, and near-term speed of execution in its deep tech development.
Best-in-class capabilities in nanofabrication is a global competitive advantage in the multibillion-dollar point of care medical diagnostics industry. One of the reasons why there are few companies in the world developing and commercialising biochips is because it's difficult to achieve precision engineering at the nano scale.
Archer share price summary
Over the past year, the Archer share price has accelerated over 400%, with 75% of those gains coming in 2021 so far. The company's shares reached an all-time high of $1.24 in late February on the back of achieving a technological breakthrough.
