Halo secures $80m to accelerate laser manufacturing tech
California's Halo Industries has raised up to USD 80 million in a series B. It says the funding will help to commercialise its laser manufacturing platform for the semiconductor industry.
The oversubscribed round was led by Thomas Tull’s U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT) with participation from 8VC and SAIC. The backers clearly expect that Halo's laser-based tools and processing technologies will be widely adopted by foundries all over the world.
Halo claims its systems reduce the cost, waste and environmental impact associated with traditional manufacturing methods, and will be come the 'new gold-standard of silicon carbide substrate production.'
SiC is a hard, brittle material that is challenging to cut without losing meaningful amounts, and Halo says its proprietary laser-based slicing tools significantly increase yield and quality of SiC while minimising waste and production cost.
"Amid the explosive growth in demand for next-generation power electronics with improved energy efficiency, our laser-based manufacturing tools and SiC production are critical components for maintaining momentum in clean tech development," said Andrei Iancu, Halo Industries founder and CEO, in an official release.
"We are incredibly grateful to have savvy partners who recognize the differentiated value of our innovative laser technologies and support our rapid growth. This financing will serve as the foundation for our future strategic engagements where our innovations can reshape market economics as well as enable entirely new device architectures and functionalities."
Halo’s manufacturing technologies have been demonstrated to work on various advanced materials such as silicon, diamond, sapphire, lithium tantalate, gallium nitride, and many others.
