A startup founded by a team of PhDs from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. A semiconductor key materials company has raised hundreds of millions of yuan in Series B financing. Its products have passed the verification of customers such as Luowei Optoelectronics and Longtu Photomask. | Exclusive Report from Yingke

Author | Lin Qingqing

Editor | Peng Xiaoqiu

Hard Kr has learned that recently, the semiconductor material enterprise "Zhongke Zhuoer" has completed the capital delivery for the Series B led investment. The leading investor is the Chengdu Jiaozizi Zhongying Innovation and Development Fund under BOC International Investment. Meanwhile, several follow - on investment institutions are also advancing rapidly. The total scale of the Series B financing amounts to hundreds of millions of yuan. The funds will be used for the process R & D of quartz mask substrates for semiconductor lithography, the construction of domestic production lines, and the breakthrough of mass - production bottlenecks.

"Zhongke Zhuoer" was established in 2018 and was led by Dr. Yang Wei, a supervisor from the Institute of Optics and Electronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The company has broken through the key technologies of precision polishing and coating for semiconductor mask substrates, and has the R & D and production capabilities from processes to core equipment. It has also undertaken the national project for tackling key problems in the semiconductor blank mask industry chain. Its main products cover blank masks for semiconductors/displays with a process of 130 - 250nm (products with a process of 28 - 90nm are being actively reserved and developed) and related core equipment.

As the graphic transfer carrier in the lithography process, the blank mask is the core material for lithography machines used in chips and displays, directly affecting the lithography accuracy and product yield. Based on data from multiple research reports, the global market size of blank masks in 2024 is approximately $3.6 billion, and the equivalent demand in China is about 10 billion yuan. Mainland China's demand for mid - to high - end blank masks is highly dependent on imports and is currently almost monopolized by a few companies such as Japan's HOYA, Japan's Shin - Etsu Chemical, and South Korea's KTG. The domestic production rate is expected to be less than 1%. The domestic industry urgently needs to break the deadlock. At the same time, core equipment in the production of blank masks, such as electron beam exposure and defect detection, has long been subject to export controls by the US and Japan, restricting domestic capacity expansion.

Currently, there are only 4 - 5 enterprises in Mainland China that can stably supply third - party quartz blank masks in small batches, and the key process equipment still relies on imports. Yang Wei, the founder of "Zhongke Zhuoer", told Hard Kr that "production lines relying on imported equipment are at risk of shutdown" and pointed out that "under the existing lithography technology route, the mask, as a key material, still has an irreplaceable period of about 10 years."

Hard Kr has learned that in terms of technology, "Zhongke Zhuoer" has achieved three independent breakthroughs. Among them, the ultra - precision polishing process has achieved a surface roughness better than 0.2 nanometers (the international mainstream level is 0.3 nanometers); the magnetron sputtering coating equipment has achieved a film layer uniformity of ±2% (the international standard is ±5%); the defect detection system can identify defects at the 0.3 - micron level and correlate production data. Yang Wei said that currently, domestic blank masks have achieved technological parity in the 130 - 500nm process, but further breakthroughs are still needed at more advanced nodes within 100nm.

In terms of commercialization, its blank masks have been verified by companies such as Luwei Optoelectronics, Longtu Photomask, and several domestic self - developed lithography machine manufacturers. Currently, the pilot production line in Chengdu of "Zhongke Zhuoer" has completed process and product verification. This round of financing will focus on promoting the construction of mass - production capabilities.

The "Zhongke Zhuoer" team is led by Yang Wei, a supervisor from the Institute of Optics and Electronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a professor at Xihua University, and the director of the Academic Committee. He participated in the research and development of the national 02 project. His tutor, Academician Jiang Wenhan, is the chief scientist for the development of the first domestic lithography machine and has been involved in guiding defect detection and quality control of mask substrates. The core technology team includes several doctors and industrial expert consultants, who are respectively responsible for core processes such as polishing, coating, and detection.

Views of investors:

The person - in - charge of the BOC International Investment project said: "Zhongke Zhuoer has technological scarcity and industrial chain positioning advantages in the semiconductor material field. The team has more than a decade of industrial accumulation, which is highly in line with the national strategy of 'autonomous high - end manufacturing'. We will use the integrated service of 'investment banking + commercial banking' to fully support it to become an industry leader."

The person - in - charge of the Sichuan Dingxiang project said: "Since our investment in Zhongke Zhuoer in the angel round, we have witnessed the company gradually develop into a leading enterprise in the domestic blank mask field. It has completed the construction and operation of the pilot production line with self - developed equipment and processes, covers multiple key industrial links, and has a relatively high domestic production rate. We are very optimistic about the industrial and commercial value of Zhongke Zhuoer in the process of domesticating mid - to high - end blank masks."