36Kr Exclusive | Covering multiple segments of the semiconductor industry chain, this domestic silicon carbide materials enterprise has completed a Series C financing of over 100 million yuan.

Author | QIAO Yujie

Editor | YUAN Silai

This article is approximately 1500 words, with a suggested 4-minute reading time

Hard Krypton has learned that Zhejiang Liufang Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Liufang Semiconductor") has recently completed a C1 round of equity financing of over 100 million RMB. This round of financing is jointly funded by Beijing Canglin Capital and Zhuji Industrial Investment Group Co., Ltd.

Founded in 2018, Liufang Semiconductor focuses on the R&D and production of new semiconductor materials, with its business covering key process links such as semiconductor crystal growth, epitaxy and etching, providing downstream customers with core materials and precision component solutions.

The company has mastered the core technology of CVD‑SiC silicon carbide material synthesis. Relying on this technology, it has launched products including flow guide barrels, monocrystalline silicon epitaxial trays, LED chip epitaxial trays, and SiC focus rings, covering multiple links of the semiconductor industrial chain.

In terms of preparation of silicon carbide crystal growth raw materials, Liufang Semiconductor adopts the vapor phase method to produce high-purity silicon carbide powder, which features high purity, high density and low nitrogen content. At present, the performance of the company's products can match similar overseas products, and has been gradually supplied to mainstream domestic crystal growth manufacturers. At the same time, based on the core CVD-SiC technology, the company is continuously expanding the application scenarios of high-purity SiC materials, including the application of high-purity SiC raw materials and thin films in the fields of optics, chip heat dissipation, heterogeneous integration and other sectors.

At the initial stage of its establishment, Liufang Semiconductor focused on the domestic substitution of silicon carbide coated chip epitaxial trays. Through continuous R&D, the company has mastered the core technology of mass production equipment and processes for CVD-SiC coatings, and realized the domestic substitution of silicon carbide coated chip epitaxial trays.

On this basis, the company has further made breakthroughs in the preparation and processing technology of bulk SiC growth. Bulk SiC material is the basic material for many core components in the semiconductor field, including the focus ring required for etching processes, the edge ring required for RTP equipment, etc.

(Photo source / Enterprise)

As 3D NAND advances to more than 300 layers, the number of steps required for the etching process increases from 50 steps to more than 100 steps. The expansion of AI computing power chip production further drives the installed quantity of etching equipment. As the core consumable of etching equipment, the demand for CVD-SiC etching rings has increased significantly. At present, the domestic localization rate of CVD-SiC focus rings is less than 15%, and the localization rate of focus rings required for advanced processes below 7nm is less than 5%.

Dr. He Shaolong, founder of Liufang Semiconductor, leads the national key R&D program "Key Technology for Preparation of Large-size Ultra-high Purity Silicon Carbide", and conducts scientific research on the scientific problem of rapid CVD-SiC deposition and the high-efficiency processing technology of high-hardness brittle materials, finally realizing domestic substitution and industrialization.

Dr. He Shaolong, founder of the company, graduated from the Department of Physics of Zhejiang University. He has successively carried out research at Hiroshima University and National Institute for Materials Science in Japan. After returning to China, he worked at Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, engaged in condensed matter physics research. He has published more than 30 academic papers in international journals such as *Nature Materials*, *Nature Communications*, *Phys. Rev. Lett.*, *PNAS* and other publications, and has been invited to give keynote reports at top domestic and international academic conferences including the US March Meeting, Japan Semiconductor Annual Conference, Xiangshan Conference and others. He currently serves as the chief scientist of the national key R&D program and a leading talent at Zhejiang provincial level.

The funds raised in this round will be mainly used for cutting-edge new product R&D and production capacity expansion. The new factory covering an area of 100 mu is expected to be officially put into operation in December 2026.

(Photo source / Enterprise)

The following is the Q&A with the founder:

Hard Krypton: What directions will the company's subsequent cutting-edge product R&D mainly focus on?

He Shaolong: The directions we are currently expanding include the application of silicon carbide materials in the fields of optics and chip heat dissipation.

Silicon carbide has a high refractive index, and has high application value in fields such as AR glasses and meta lenses. We hope to expand the silicon carbide thin film deposition technology, and further extend its application to the optical field.

On the other hand, the theoretical maximum thermal conductivity of silicon carbide can reach up to 500W/(m·K), which is a very ideal heat dissipation material. We will expand the application of SiC materials in the field of chip heat dissipation.

Investor's View

Canglin Capital: Core semiconductor materials and key process components are the core cornerstone for the domestic semiconductor industrial chain to achieve independent control, and are also a long-term high-growth golden track in the hard technology sector. Liufang Semiconductor's team has deep technical accumulation in the material field for many years and solid industrialization implementation capabilities, with prominent industry scarcity. In the future, investors will fully mobilize their own industrial resource networks to provide all-round empowerment for the enterprise in terms of customer connection and technical collaboration, helping the enterprise to quickly grow into a core leading enterprise in the track.

Zhuji Industrial Investment: This investment is a key strategic layout of the local state-owned industrial investment platform focusing on the advanced semiconductor material track. In the follow-up, we will fully rely on the local industrial supporting advantages and policy support system of Zhuji to provide full-process guarantee for the construction of Liufang Semiconductor's new factory and the connection of regional industrial chain ecosystem, promote the enterprise to take root and develop in Zhuji, and jointly drive the formation and expansion of the regional semiconductor new material industrial cluster.