Receiving the King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation is a major milestone for Quantum Science. As one of the UK’s highest official honours for business achievement, the Award recognises innovations that combine originality with real commercial and industrial impact.
For Quantum Science, this award reflects how far INFIQ® quantum dot technology has progressed, from advanced materials innovation to a commercially recognised platform for infrared sensing. It also comes at an important moment for the wider short-wave infrared (SWIR) industry, as customers look for technologies that can deliver high performance, manufacturability, reliability, integration and scale in equal measure.
SWIR imaging has long offered capabilities that visible cameras cannot provide. It can reveal material differences, moisture content and spectral information that are valuable across industrial inspection, machine vision, automotive sensing, food and agriculture, life sciences and security. Yet wider adoption has historically been constrained by the cost, complexity and manufacturing limitations of traditional semiconductor routes such as InGaAs.
The next phase of SWIR will be defined by whether these capabilities can be made easier to manufacture, integrate and deploy at scale.
That is the transition INFIQ® is designed to support.
A scalable route to CMOS-compatible SWIR
INFIQ® quantum dots are colloidal semiconductor nanomaterials engineered for infrared sensing. Unlike traditional III-V materials, they can be processed from solution to form infrared-sensitive layers using low-temperature, wafer-level processes.
This creates a more scalable route to SWIR image sensor development. By supporting integration with CMOS readout architectures, INFIQ® enables a path towards CMOS-compatible infrared sensing without relying on the same complex epitaxial and hybrid integration approaches that have historically limited wider SWIR adoption.
For customers, this matters because rather than focusing solely on how stronger device performance can be achieved in isolation, the real challenge in SWIR today lies in building infrared sensing technologies that can be processed repeatably, integrated into practical device architectures and supported through a reliable materials supply chain.
Quantum Science has developed INFIQ® with those requirements in mind.
Engineered for reliability as well as performance
Thermal stability and batch consistency remain two of the most important challenges in QD-based infrared sensing, particularly as customers move from early prototypes towards product qualification. Infrared materials need to be capable of detecting required wavelengths as well as supporting devices that can withstand demanding operating conditions and deliver repeatable performance from batch to batch.
This is a key focus for INFIQ®. Quantum Science combines quantum dot material design with proprietary ink formulation and device stack engineering to support stable device performance under elevated-temperature conditions, including testing at 125°C. The platform has also demonstrated strong batch-to-batch consistency through customer evaluation and qualification activities, giving specialist customers greater confidence as they develop next-generation infrared devices.
That reliability focus is an important part of what differentiates INFIQ®. It shows that the platform has been developed with the practical requirements of device makers in mind -wavelength response and sensitivity, but also processability, stability, repeatability and long-term manufacturability.
Recognised by the market, trusted by specialist customers
The King’s Award is significant because it recognises innovation with commercial and industrial relevance. For Quantum Science, it acknowledges years of work across quantum dot synthesis, surface engineering, ink formulation, thin-film processing and device stack development.
These capabilities are central to INFIQ®’s value. The platform has gained recognition in the commercial market and the confidence of specialist customers working at the forefront of infrared device development.
For customers, this provides confidence in INFIQ® – confidence that it is both technically differentiated and aligned with the practical requirements of next-generation SWIR product development.
Beyond conventional InGaAs detection ranges
INFIQ® also extends what quantum dot infrared materials can offer beyond conventional InGaAs-based detection ranges.
Quantum Science’s HP-QD platform is designed to support detection up to 2,600 nm, opening access to extended-SWIR wavelengths where additional spectral information can create new system-level value. This broader spectral reach can help customers capture material and molecular features that are difficult to access with visible imaging or conventional SWIR alone, creating opportunities in inspection, sorting, diagnostics, machine vision and advanced sensing systems.
The broader INFIQ® platform also includes LF-QD materials supporting detection up to 1,600 nm, providing an additional route for applications with specific material, environmental or integration requirements.
Quantum Science is also extending its infrared quantum dot roadmap, with MWIR QD materials in development. This reflects a wider ambition: to build a quantum dot materials platform that can support customers across SWIR, extended-SWIR and future mid-wave infrared sensing.
A platform for the next phase of infrared sensing
Quantum Science has built a reputation as a leading quantum dots supplier, but as the King’s Award recognises, it has developed into so much more. Through INFIQ®, Quantum Science provides a materials platform supported by ink formulation, device stack development and process engineering expertise which enables customers to work with quantum dot materials in a way that is aligned with their wavelength targets, device architectures and integration requirements.
The King’s Award is both a proud milestone for Quantum Science and a signal that the wider infrared market is moving towards technologies that combine performance with manufacturability, reliability, scalability and practical integration.
For customers, the message is clear. High-performance infrared sensing is moving beyond specialist, high-cost systems, and INFIQ® quantum dot materials are helping make that transition possible.