INL CNRS

What INL CNRS does

INL CNRS (Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon, UMR 5270) is a French public Joint Research Unit founded in 2007 and jointly supervised by CNRS, École Centrale de Lyon (ECL), INSA Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, and CPE Lyon. The laboratory is a multi-site research facility with principal locations in Ecully and Villeurbanne (Lyon), employing approximately 200-225 personnel including professor-researchers, CNRS researchers, engineers, doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows. Its director since 2021 is Bruno Masenelli, with Ségolène Callard as Deputy Director and Bénédicte André as Administrative Director.

INL's core offering is fundamental and applied research in micro and nanotechnologies, organized across four thematic axes: Functional Materials and Nanostructures, Electronics, Photonics and Photovoltaics (i-Lum team), and Devices for Health and Environment. The laboratory operates the NanoLyon technological platform, which bundles a cleanroom (Centrale de Micro-NanoFabrication), epitaxy services (Pôle Épitaxie for III-V semiconductors and oxides via MBE/MOCVD), a bioengineering and health pole (Pôle Bio-ingénierie Santé), and a computational simulation pole (Pôle Calcul & Simulations with HPC resources). Research outputs span photonic crystals, emerging ferroelectric and phase-change memories (THETIS), CMOS SPAD detectors, silicon clathrate optoelectronics, GaAs nanowire solar cells, lab-on-chip and microfluidic systems (MagPure chip), biomedical sensors, and smart textile devices such as the Oneiros sleep-study prototype.

INL does not operate as a commercial enterprise and does not sell products or services. Its revenue mechanics consist of public research funding from its five supervisory institutions, competitive national grants (ANR), European programs (H2020, FP7, IPCEI Nano 2022), regional funding, and industrial collaborative contracts — including CIFRE industry-funded PhDs and dedicated joint laboratories with partners such as RIBER (MBE equipment) and STMicroelectronics (emerging memories). Outputs are disseminated through peer-reviewed publications (over 200 per year), the HAL open archive, conferences, PhD Days, and technology transfer via patents and spin-offs (notably Piwio). Customer-facing segments span the semiconductor, photonics, healthcare/life sciences, and energy/environment sectors, served through research collaboration, technology transfer, and external access to the NanoLyon platform.

Name

INL CNRS

Legal name

INL - Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon

Website

https://inl.cnrs.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

INL CNRS is a French public Joint Research Unit (UMR 5270) conducting fundamental and applied research in micro and nanotechnologies across semiconductor, photonics, healthcare, and energy domains, serving industry and academia through the NanoLyon technological platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Micro and Nanotechnology Research

NAICS

Research and Development in Nanotechnology (541713), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing (3344)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Testing Laboratories (8734), Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826)

akta.pro primary industry

Foundry Platform & Design Enablement Services (PDK/DFM/Process Qualification) (HDAHACAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Test, Measurement & Calibration Equipment Manufacturing Services (ATE, DAQ, metrology electronics) (IMAGAGAH)

Keywords

• Micro and nanotechnology research
• Nanofabrication platform services
• Photonics and photovoltaics research
• Biomedical microdevice development
• Semiconductor research laboratory

Headquarters

HQ city

Villeurbanne

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Public Research Funding: INL is funded through its supervisory institutions (CNRS, ECL, INSA, University Lyon 1, CPE Lyon) which provide base operational funding. Additional revenue comes from competitive national research grants (ANR), European projects (H2020, FP7), regional funding, and industrial collaborative contracts.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

INL CNRS is a public research laboratory (UMR 5270) that conducts fundamental and applied research in micro and nanotechnologies, spanning from materials to systems. It operates the NanoLyon technological platform, which provides external companies and academic partners with access to micro-nano fabrication cleanrooms, III-V and oxide epitaxy services, bioengineering/health characterization facilities, and computational simulation resources. Its research portfolio covers semiconductor nanoelectronics, photonic crystals and photovoltaics, biomedical microdevices, lab-on-chip systems, and emerging memory technologies, supported by patents, spin-offs, and collaborative R&D contracts.

Product overview

INL CNRS (Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon) is a Joint Research Unit (UMR 5270) operating as a multidisciplinary research laboratory rather than a commercial product company. Its core offering is the Nanolyon Technological Platform, which provides access to advanced micro-nanofabrication facilities including cleanrooms (Centrale de Micro-NanoFabrication), epitaxy services (Pôle Epitaxie), bioengineering resources (Pôle Bio-ingénierie Santé), and computational simulation capabilities (Pôle Calcul & Simulations). The laboratory conducts research across four main thematic areas: Functional Materials and Nanostructures, Electronics, Photonics and Photovoltaics (i-Lum team), and Devices for Health and Environment. Key research technologies include photonic crystals, emerging memory technologies (THETIS), CMOS-integrated sensors (CCI), and various medical device prototypes such as the Oneiros sleep study device, portable bioimpedance devices, and microfluidic chips. The portfolio also includes collaborative projects like INL Laclarée and spin-offs such as Piwio. Access to the Nanolyon platform is available to external researchers and industry partners through partnership arrangements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NanoLyon Technological Platform Shared technology platform providing access to advanced micro and nanofabrication equipment, epitaxy services, bioengineering facilities, and computational simulation tools for external researchers, industry partners, and collaborative R&D projects.
• Centrale de Micro-NanoFabrication Cleanroom facility within NanoLyon offering micro and nanoscale device fabrication services using semiconductor processing techniques for academic and industrial partners.
• Pôle Épitaxie Epitaxial growth services for III-V semiconductors, oxides, and other materials using Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) and Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) techniques, offered to external companies and academic partners.
• Pôle Bio-ingénierie Santé Bioengineering and health technology pole providing chemistry/biochemistry spaces, a P2 laboratory, and a living lab to support biomedical device development for academic researchers and industrial partners.
• Pôle Calcul & Simulations Computational simulation and modeling services providing access to high-performance computing resources (Newton cluster) for multi-physics simulations supporting research projects.
• THETIS Research Program (Technologies Émergentes pour le Traitement de l'Information et son Stockage) Research program on emerging memory technologies including ferroelectric memories, phase-change materials, RRAM, CBRAM, and FeRAM on advanced CMOS platforms for information processing and storage, conducted jointly with industrial partners such as STMicroelectronics.
• CCI Research Program (Capteurs CMOS et Instrumentation) Research project on CMOS-integrated sensors and associated instrumentation for medical imaging and advanced characterization, including CMOS SPAD detectors and readout electronics.
• RUST Research Program (Architectures et paradigmes de calcul fiables, efficaces et sécurisés) Research program on reliable, efficient, and secure computing architectures and paradigms for next-generation computing systems, including emerging computing paradigms and secure hardware architectures.
• INL-RIBER Joint Laboratory Mutual joint laboratory (laboratoire commun) with RIBER focused on epitaxial growth R&D and MBE technology development for semiconductor and oxide materials integration, providing joint research outcomes and shared infrastructure.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 200 publications per year in international scientific journals
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• RIBERcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerINL maintains a joint laboratory (laboratoire commun) with RIBER, a company specializing in Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) equipment. Guillaume Saint-Girons serves as director of this joint laboratory. The partnership focuses on epitaxial growth research and development of MBE technologies for semiconductor and oxide materials integration.
• STMicroelectronicscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerINL collaborates with STMicroelectronics on emerging memories based on ferroelectric HfO2 through the IPCEI Nano 2022 project. Damien Deleruyelle leads joint research on ferroelectric memories for flexible electronics and emerging memory technologies.
• IBMminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on glycoarray (carbohydrate microarray) research alongside IBBM (UMR 5247), ICBMS (UMR 5246), VirPath (FRE 3011), and X. Chen at University of California Davis, involving Yann Chevolot's team at INL.
• Université de Sherbrooke (LN2 UMI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational joint unit (UMI 3463 CNRS Université de Sherbrooke) involving ECL, INSA Lyon, and CPE Lyon. Jean-Pierre Cloarec served as co-responsible for BioMEMS and Ethics axes during 2012-2014 delegation. Partnership includes collaboration on biophotonics and optoelectronics.
• ELyT-Lab (International Associated Laboratory)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlain Fave serves as responsible for the 'Micro and Nano scale Materials and Devices' theme within the International Associated Laboratory ELyT-Lab linking INSA-Lyon, ECL, and Tohoku University (Japan) since December 2008, facilitating academic exchange and joint research.
• CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing collaboration with CEA on multiple research projects including silicon nanotechnologies, photovoltaic materials, and semiconductor research. CEA researchers are affiliated with INL including Nicolas Chauvin and Guillaume Saint-Girons.
• Piwio (INL Spin-off)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPiwio is a startup spin-off from INL, mentioned as one of the highlights from the Devices for Health and Environment team, indicating technology transfer from INL research to commercial application in the healthcare sector.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• IMEC: The leading European micro- and nanoelectronics R&D center, with a 300mm pilot line and industrial partnership program spanning semiconductor, photonics, and biomedical applications — directly comparable in mission to INL's NanoLyon platform at much larger scale.
• CEA-Leti: CEA's micro/nanoelectronics R&D lab in Grenoble operates a similar public lab model with a major shared fabrication platform (MINATEC) and deep partnerships with STMicroelectronics and other semiconductor players, making it INL's closest direct national peer.
• CSEM: Swiss public-private R&D center covering micro/nanotech, MEMS, photonics, and biomedical devices with industrial partnerships. Comparable in size, mission, and platform-services business model to INL's NanoLyon.
• MIT.nano: MIT's central nanofabrication and characterization facility supporting multidisciplinary research in micro/nano systems, materials, and biomedical devices — structurally analogous to INL's role as a shared university platform.
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) — Institute of Microstructure Technology: Leading German academic micro/nanofabrication group running cleanroom services and research in MEMS, photonics, and nanoelectronics, with similar industrial partner access programs as INL's NanoLyon.
• Fraunhofer Group for Microelectronics (incl. IZM, IPMS, IMS, IAF): Network of applied-research institutes running micro/nano fabrication, MEMS, photonics, and semiconductor process development with industrial contract research — a model and capability set that strongly overlaps with INL's CNRS-style UMR structure.
• VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland: Nordic public applied-research center with strong micro/nanoelectronics, photonics, and biomedical device programs and industry contract research — similar role in its national innovation system as INL occupies in France.

Broad incumbents

• Bruker: Global manufacturer of analytical laboratory instruments (AFM, SEM, mass spectrometry) that align with INL's nanocharacterization capabilities. A broad incumbent in measurement technology adjacent to INL's R&D focus.
• IBM Research Zurich: Industrial research lab with deep programs in micro/nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, and bio-interfaces. INL collaborates with IBM (glycoarray work), and IBM represents a much larger established player in the same multidisciplinary nanotech space.

Emerging players

• Piwio: INL's own named spin-off in healthcare technology, illustrating the lab-to-startup commercialization pathway available for INL research and an example of a peer in the same commercialization ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@inlcnrs
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/inl---cnrs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about INL CNRS