Backed by the technical team of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, a high-end equipment company in Wuhan secures tens of millions in financing | Exclusive Report by Yingke

Author | Ye Danxuan

Editor | Yuan Silai

36Kr learned that Chuguang 3D, a domestic manufacturer of optical precision imaging instruments, has completed a tens of millions-level Angel + round of financing. The investors are Yuanhe Origin, Optics Valley Industry Investment, and Changshu Guofa Venture Capital, and Fengrui Capital, the shareholder of the angel round, has continued to increase its investment. This round of financing will be mainly used for the continuous R & D of the current optical 3D imaging technology platform and the establishment of the marketing team to accelerate the commercialization process.

Founded in 2022, Chuguang 3D focuses on developing an optical 3D imaging platform led by spectral confocal technology. Its products can be used for detection and measurement in fields such as semiconductors, high - end 3C electronics, new energy, silicon photonics devices, thin - film materials, and ultra - precision manufacturing.

In recent years, the manufacturing industry has been continuously upgrading, the manufacturing precision has been continuously refined and improved, and the material structure has also been rapidly iterating. Therefore, traditional measurement and detection solutions have gradually failed to meet the needs of emerging industries. Taking the semiconductor industry as an example, major manufacturers have started mass - producing chips using advanced packaging processes, and the chip structure is changing from a two - dimensional to a three - dimensional structure. Li Min, the founder of Chuguang 3D, told 36Kr that the existing measurement technologies are difficult to accurately and efficiently measure 3D chips with complex micro - nano structures such as high aspect ratios. High - efficiency micro - nano precision 3D measurement and detection will be the future demand trend in the semiconductor industry.

In addition to the ultra - precision manufacturing field, the iteration of components in the 3C industry has also led to more and more new situations, new materials, and new media putting forward higher requirements for detection processes. For example, with the curved and foldable processes currently used in mobile phone screens, it is difficult for traditional measurement technology solutions to meet the precision requirements of production line detection.

Li Min introduced to 36Kr that the micro - nano manufacturing field has extremely high requirements for precision and efficiency. Correspondingly, more accurate and advanced measurement and detection technologies are also needed. Currently, most domestic visual detector manufacturing enterprises are still on the traditional visual route and can only meet the low - precision peripheral detection needs. Only a very small number of enterprises involved in the micro - nano 3D imaging field also follow the traditional technology route and are highly dependent on foreign precision optical hardware.

Based on this, Chuguang 3D has chosen a new technical path in its fully self - developed "area confocal 3D microscopic sensor" and uses AI algorithms to optimize 3D point cloud processing. That is, it projects structured light with a wide frequency range onto the surface of the measured sample, then captures the surface structured light imaging through a microscope and conducts tomographic analysis to reconstruct its surface topography, thereby achieving the generation of "snapshot - style" 3D multi - layer topography with nanometer - level precision in a single scan. This area confocal product is the world's first commercial product using the "area array light + confocal imaging" technology.

Currently, the cutting - edge products on the market are mainly divided into two categories. One is the laser scanning confocal 3D microscopic product, and the other is the digital zoom 3D microscopic product, both of which belong to the traditional technology path. Li Min revealed that Chuguang 3D's area confocal 3D microscopic product breaks through through algorithm optimization and simulation, reducing the dependence on precision optical hardware. While achieving leading levels in key technical indicators, the hardware cost has also been significantly reduced.

In addition, another product of Chuguang 3D, the line spectral confocal 3D sensor, has also achieved mass production.

In terms of commercialization, both the "area confocal 3D microscopic sensor" and the "line spectral confocal 3D sensor" products have reached orders and are being stably delivered.

In terms of the team, Chuguang 3D relies on the expert scientific research team of the Department of Instrument Science and Technology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. It has multiple core patents and is highly connected with cutting - edge scientific research results. At the same time, the engineering operation team has more than 10 years of experience in the marketization of 3D imaging. Among them, Professor Liu Xiaojun, the chief scientist of Chuguang 3D, has long been engaged in the research of micro - nano 3D measurement technology, completed multiple national key projects, and has a large amount of technical accumulation in the field of optical micro - nano 3D perception and measurement. Li Min, the founder and CEO of Chuguang 3D, is a serial entrepreneur who has successively served as a co - founder and business leader in semiconductor and 3D vision start - up companies.

Investor's opinion: Du Min, a partner of Yuanhe Origin, the leading investor in the Angel + round, said, "General Manager Li has many years of experience in the development and application of high - end equipment in the pan - semiconductor field. Combined with the micro - nano optics and algorithms of Professor Liu and the Huazhong University of Science and Technology technical team, it has formed the underlying core technology and market - oriented product design ability of Chuguang 3D. The self - developed line confocal and area confocal detection sensors of the company have complete independent intellectual property rights and can solve the 3D size detection of micro - nano structures in fields such as advanced packaging and 3C electronics, which conforms to the global development trend of advanced manufacturing. We are very glad to have the opportunity to invest in Chuguang 3D to form a more extensive micro - nano manufacturing application ecosystem and jointly contribute to the development of China's advanced manufacturing."