Foreign Media: Chinese Startup Claims Low-Cost Mass Production of Photonic Chips Without ASML Equipment
China's Hangzhou-based startup Prinano has recently announced the successful validation of a new method for mass-producing photonic chips on 8-inch silicon wafers, claiming it completely bypasses traditional deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment and reduces manufacturing costs to about one-tenth of conventional approaches.
According to the company, Prinano collaborated with Shenzhen Lizhuo Technology to achieve 8-inch optical chip wafer production using its self-developed PL-AS vacuum air-pad nanoimprint lithography (NIL) equipment, customized double-layer imprint materials, and core processes. This technology supports wafer-level photonic chip manufacturing and can be applied in fields such as optical communications, sensors, and LiDAR.
This development has drawn attention due to restrictions imposed by Dutch lithography giant ASML on the export of certain DUV equipment and more advanced EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography systems to China. If nanoimprint lithography matures and becomes widely adopted, it could offer China’s semiconductor industry a new technological pathway.
However, there remains debate within the industry regarding the practical value of nanoimprint lithography. Criticism primarily centers on concerns over large-scale production capacity, yield performance, and whether the technology is applicable beyond photonic chips to other types of semiconductor chips.
In fact, Prinano had previously announced in August 2025 that it had delivered China’s first complete set of semiconductor nanoimprint lithography systems to domestic clients—seen as a significant step toward commercializing this technology. The recent achievement of producing 8-inch photonic chip wafers marks another milestone in industrialization. Nevertheless, whether this technology can gain competitiveness across broader semiconductor manufacturing domains remains to be validated by both market demand and technical advancement.
Original Source: toutiao.com/article/1867445763536971/
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