"Xunlin Technology" Completes Pre-A Round Financing of Tens of Millions of Yuan to Solve the Mass Production and Application Problems of Glass Substrates | Exclusive Report by 36Kr

Text | Zhang Bingbing

Editor | A Zhi

36Kr learned that Tianjin Xunlin Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xunlin Technology") recently announced the completion of a pre - A round of financing worth tens of millions of yuan. This round of financing was led by Qihang Investment of Zhongguancun Development Group, with Beian Industrial Investment participating. The funds will be mainly used for technology R & D, market expansion, and the construction and upgrading of the industrial chain.

Founded in September 2023, "Xunlin Technology" is an advanced manufacturing enterprise focusing on the surface metallization of ceramic and glass electronic substrates. It is committed to exploring a new technical route for copper - cladding through its own PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) technology, aiming to solve the core technical and cost problems of glass substrates and ceramic substrates in application scenarios such as semiconductor advanced processes, high - definition display modules, and power devices.

Currently, "Xunlin Technology" has production lines in both Tianjin and Qingdao. Both locations have obtained electroplating and etching licenses, and a continuous batch substrate production line covering an area of 200,000 square meters has been built. Its core products such as glass substrates and ceramic substrates have completed process verification for some target customers and have entered the production and mass - order stage.

PVD Copper - Cladding Technology Solves the Difficulties of Bonding Strength and Copper Thickness

Once, as a new material, the market explanation cost of glass substrates was quite high. In September 2023, Intel first announced the launch of glass substrates for next - generation advanced packaging and planned to achieve mass production between 2026 and 2030, which attracted wide attention from the industry. Subsequently, giants such as Samsung and AMD entered the market one after another. Against the background of the slowdown of Moore's Law, glass substrates have become a new hope to "break the limit" and have come into the public view.

Due to its characteristics of high flatness, low thickness, large size, adjustable mechanical properties, good thermal conductivity, and low material cost, glass substrates have become a highly potential carrier material. Currently, the mass - production application of glass substrates still faces many challenges, and the surface copper - cladding technology is one of them.

Glass is a non - conductive material. Copper - cladding can endow glass substrates with conductivity, which is a key step in promoting its application in fields such as electronic packaging. However, the glass surface is smooth and has poor adhesion. The bonding strength between the glass substrate and the metal layer is poor, which can easily lead to curling or even peeling of the metal layer. Especially for tempered or ultra - thin glass, its processing temperature resistance is relatively low. To ensure the yield rate and process coordination, it can generally only withstand a processing temperature below 400 °C. Solving the bonding strength problem within this range is particularly crucial.

Zhen Zhen, the CEO of "Xunlin Technology", introduced that traditional adhesive processes such as pasting copper foils with nano - glue or using PI films after glass roughening will introduce new interfaces, thus losing the characteristics of glass in chip applications, such as thermal conductivity and the ability to fabricate fine circuits. Therefore, it is necessary to directly achieve the inter - diffusion of the glass surface and metal elements to form a high - strength bond from a chemical perspective.

The PVD technology route involves evaporating or sputtering materials in a vacuum environment to deposit them on the substrate surface to form a thin film. "Xunlin Technology" uses ionized PVD technology to achieve metal element diffusion through surface bombardment, ion implantation, ion etching, and multi - layer composite structures. It can complete copper - cladding on large - area glass substrates at a relatively low temperature, achieving a bonding strength several times that of the traditional sputtered titanium - copper seed layer, providing the necessary process margin for subsequent processes.

In addition, this PVD technology is different from the traditional method of adding a seed layer and electroplating for thickening, which solves another major problem of copper - cladding on the glass substrate surface - high thickness and low warpage. The glass substrates used in fields such as chip packaging and display TFT panels are usually packaged and coated at the sub - micron or hundred - nanometer level, and the relevant equipment is mainly imported. "Xunlin Technology" uses self - developed formulas, processes, and equipment to prepare glass substrate coatings with a thickness ranging from 1μm to 100μm and achieves large - area warpage - free, expanding the application of products in the fields of high - definition display and PCB replacement.

Product samples of Xunlin Technology

"This is our area of expertise. In the field of conventional coatings, we also carry out coating within this thickness range." Zhen Zhen introduced that the accumulation of the founding team in the coating field has become the basis for its technological breakthrough.

Zhen Zhen, the CEO of "Xunlin Technology", graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign with a bachelor's degree in materials science and obtained a doctorate in materials science from Tsinghua University. In 2019, she entered a national - level materials research institute, focusing on the research of vapor - deposition coating processes. "Our research has achieved stable performance of metal - ceramic composite system coatings in nearly a thousand thermal cycles from nearly 1400 °C near the surface to room temperature," Zhen Zhen said. "Coating technology is a platform - based technology. The key is to solve the problems of the bonding force between metal and ceramic and stress matching, and then achieve copper - cladding on substrates with large areas, high copper thickness, no warpage, and full vias." Inspired by this, Zhen Zhen completed the coating design, characterization, and testing of the core technology of "Xunlin Technology".

Zhen Hongbin, the chairman of "Xunlin Technology", graduated from Tsinghua University. In the 1990s, when working at Electrolux, he realized the important position of coating technology in mechanical core components: whether it is cutting tools, molds, or parts, developed countries had widely applied coatings, while it was still blank in China at that time. Driven by this awareness, Zhen Hongbin founded the coating technology company Scienwood in 2010. His accumulation in the coating industry has provided support for the technology R & D of "Xunlin Technology" in terms of equipment transformation and process matching.

In 2024, "Xunlin Technology" received tens of millions of yuan in angel - round financing from Weihua Chuangxin, Guoqi Zhilian, and Shuimu Huaqing. It also won the Excellence Award in the "National Disruptive Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition" and the Gold Award in the "Shandong Doctor (Post - Doctoral) Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition". It has the qualifications of a Tianjin OTC enterprise, an information technology application innovation enterprise, and a post - doctoral workstation.

Currently, the main products of "Xunlin Technology" are glass substrates and ceramic substrates. Through the PVD or PVD + EP preparation method, the maximum copper - cladding thickness of glass substrates can reach 100μm, and the copper - cladding bonding strength is > 0.6N/mm@20μm. The maximum copper - cladding thickness of ceramic substrates can reach 400μm, and the copper - cladding bonding strength is > 12N/mm@400μm.

Layout of the Full - Chain Production Line to Promote the Application through Stable Mass Production

For new material innovation projects, technological breakthrough is only the first step. Engineering construction, stable mass production, and market verification are the successive barriers for application.

At the beginning of moving towards mass production, "Xunlin Technology" found that only focusing on the core enabling technology could not solve the problem of full - chain mass production. With the support of regional government industrial policies and capital investment, "Xunlin Technology" obtained electroplating and etching licenses and completed the full - chain layout from glass cutting, punching, grinding, tempering, hole plugging to copper - cladding, electroplating, exposure, development, etching, and electroless plating.

"We now have the processing ability for glass substrates and ceramic substrates across the entire industrial chain, which can ensure product quality control. Moreover, we can match the production capacity of individual equipment to ensure large - scale continuous mass production," Zhen Zhen introduced. Based on the full - chain advantage, "Xunlin Technology" has solved the two most core problems in the commercialization of glass and ceramic substrates: 100% achievement rate of technical indicators and stable mass production in batches.

Automated production line of Xunlin Technology

The self - controllable production chain brings the possibility of further breakthroughs in product indicators. According to Zhen Zhen, the latest products of "Xunlin Technology" can achieve a 100μm - thick copper layer on glass, which is expected to unlock the substrate application of power devices such as automotive laser headlights and high - energy lasers.

How to open up the market is another test. As an upstream material, glass substrates need a long verification process to push downstream application manufacturers to change their industrial routes. In response, the implementation strategy of "Xunlin Technology" is carried out in three major application fields of glass substrates.

In the field of semiconductor packaging, glass substrates have advantages such as heat dissipation, thermal conductivity, and a low dielectric constant. The application is mainly targeted at computing power chips. Currently, "Xunlin Technology" is cooperating with leading manufacturers in R & D, taking it as the direction of technological leadership. In cooperation with the rapid development of packaging technology, it aims to achieve mass production of glass - based chips in the future.

The backlight display module and direct - display module fields are the key directions for the application implementation of "Xunlin Technology". In the display module, "Xunlin Technology" can manufacture large - sized panels with a high copper thickness of 1350×1050mm, directly realizing the application of large - sized fully transparent glass screens with small - pitch, high - definition, and high - brightness. It also uses fine circuits to adapt to mass transfer, COB, and MIP solutions, reducing costs and improving the operability of Mini/Micro LED products. Zhen Zhen believes that Micro LED is a potential ultimate display solution and may comprehensively surpass OLED. For the large - area backlight module glass substrates of mainstream LCD TVs in the current market, "Xunlin Technology" has reached a cooperation with domestic leading manufacturers to explore the replacement of traditional multi - layer stacked backlight module solutions with glass substrates, making TVs thinner, brighter, and more efficient.

In the field of PCB replacement substrates, the goal is to explore the mature market. In 2024, the scale of the Chinese PCB market exceeded 300 billion yuan, and it is widely used in fields such as communication, consumer electronics, and automotive electronics. Zhen Zhen believes that glass substrates can replace some products, and following the price logic of bulk commodities, the price of glass substrates will be more competitive after the technology system matures. For example, in the fields of fine circuits, weather - resistant substrates, and large - sized seamless substrates, the glass - plus - copper - plating solution has certain advantages for single - sided or double - sided copper - clad rigid boards.

In addition, in the face of the highly competitive ceramic - based field, "Xunlin Technology" will rely on the full - chain low - temperature and high - thickness continuous copper - cladding technology to avoid the great pressure on production capacity and cost caused by eutectic or welding processes and the dependence on imported processes and equipment, thereby reducing the entry price of ceramic substrates.

Regarding the future market plan, Zhen Zhen said: "We plan to build up our continuous production capacity, production system, including production capacity, in the next five years for the three major markets of display glass substrates, power ceramic boards, and PCB replacement. We will also continue to promote the R & D of processes and equipment for chip carriers to provide technical and equipment support for advanced packaging glass substrates."

In terms of production volume planning, "Xunlin Technology" expects to fully operate the 100,000 - square - meter production line in the Qingdao factory in the first quarter of this year. The Tianjin factory is prepared to be fully connected in June, and a production capacity of 300,000 square meters will be achieved by the end of the year.

36Kr Future Industries

"36Kr Future Industries" continuously focuses on urban development, industrial transformation, and the implementation of innovation and entrepreneurship projects. For media coverage, please contact wangfengzhi@36kr.com via email.

In addition, 36Kr officially launched the "36Kr Enterprise Investment Guide Internal Reference" this year. Relying on its in - depth accumulation in the economic circle industrial clusters, regional key promotion plans, and investment promotion fields, 36Kr provides in - depth, detailed, timely, and exclusive comprehensive information services to government departments, offering them efficient and accurate industrial project internal references. It also helps project parties match industrial funds, connect with key contacts, and quickly integrate into the new industrial ecosystem.

This article is from the WeChat official account "36Kr Future Industries". Author: Zhang Bingbing, A Zhi. Republished by 36Kr with permission.