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Gas Sensors for future Ultra Low NOx Emission Legislation – Euro 7

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SiC-MOSFET (Gas Sensors for future Ultra Low NOx Emission Legislation – Euro 7)

Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2020-02-29

Air pollution is still something that many Europeans are very much familiar with. The EU and
many national governments both in Europe and beyond have set ambitious objectives in
terms of cutting gas emissions. The introduction of Euro 6 emission legislation for limiting
NO x and particles from automotive and trucks has had a huge impact and the next phase,
Euro 7, is under preparation to be decided and implemented. Also, a number of industries
(steel industry, residential heating etc.) have to reduce their emissions and thus need to
control their combustion processes by monitoring gas concentrations in the flue
gas/exhaust. This requires the use of gas sensors for harsh environments, which remains
one of the most challenging development areas. Unfortunately, most solutions available in
the industrial sector today are either unaffordable, or cannot offer sufficient robustness and
thermal stability. In the automotive industry, with sharpened real world driving requirements,
high sensitivity to measure low ppms, good selectivity to measure the right gasses, and long-
term stability to reach automotive lifetime and service intervals are key for future gas sensors
used to monitoring emission in the tailpipe.

SenSiC AB was founded in 2007 as a spin-off from Linköping University (LiU) and has a long
term continued strong connection to this research institution. We have the ambition to avail
both the challenge and opportunity, and therefore develop, produce and sell gas sensors
for harsh environments and improved performance for the industrial and automotive
sectors. Our sensors have exceptional sensitivity in very low gas concentrations with a
proven long-term performance. By measuring different gases, e.g. NH 3 , NO x , O 2 and CO, it is
possible to control the combustion and therefore reduce harmful emissions, as well as
monitor emissions in automotive real world driving conditions. By this we will contribute to a
cleaner environment and higher quality of the air we all breath.

Thanks to our first projects with customers, the technology has already been partly validated
on the Swedish industrial market. For international commercialisation and for entering the
automotive sector, SenSiC needed to develop a more comprehensive business plan that
could guide further expansion, the Phase 1 feasibility assessment aimed at confirming the
commercial potential of our technology, develop a comprehensive business plan, finding
collaboration partners, and designing the next steps needed for commercialization.
Technical Feasibility, as well as commercial potential of the product, was explored and
confirmed. Within the project, we have identified areas for future technical improvements of
our sensors that are needed to match the clients’ needs. Furthermore, we have conducted a
deeper market assessment, an initial competition benchmark of our NH3 sensor, and
performed first installations at industrial customers.

Phase 1 feasibility study laid a solid foundation for our future international market expansion,
for which we plan to seek external funding, including participation in the EIC Accelerator
program.
The feasibility study has shown that our sensors demonstrate a strong commercial potential.
The main conclusion from this feasibility study is that there exists a clear business
opportunity to exploit on the global automotive and industrial (i.e. steel) markets. Both
segments have significant market sizes, that can be addressed with a generic sensor
technology, high commonality in our products, and separate applications built upon the
products, with strong differentiators compared to competition. This positions SenSic AB with
a unique commercial opportunity and with several business “legs” to stand on.
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