Qcept Technologies secures $10.4 million in funding

ATLANTA, USA: Qcept Technologies Inc. has raised nearly $10.4 million in funding led by Pittco Capital Partners—bringing the company's total financing to nearly $36 million.

Qcept will use the funds to enhance its operations to meet rising demand within the semiconductor industry for its ChemetriQ non-visual defect (NVD) inspection systems. New investors in this latest round include Imlay Investments, Jackson Capital Partners and KT Venture Group, LLC, the investment partner of KLA-Tencor Corporation—the world's leading supplier of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related industries.

"Qcept has made remarkable progress in bringing an entirely new wafer inspection technology to the semiconductor industry that can provide a significant positive impact on manufacturers' bottom line," stated Andrew Seamons, managing partner, Pittco Capital Partners. "The company's success to date is a testament to the strength of its management team and technical expertise of its staff. We look forward to seeing the company continue on its growth path."

"We're pleased with the continued support of our investors and their view of the potential of our technology to help the semiconductor industry overcome some of its most pressing new process challenges," stated Bret Bergman, CEO of Qcept Technologies.

"The fact that we closed this round of funding during one of the worst periods in both the semiconductor and venture markets demonstrates to us the high level of confidence they have in our ability to execute on our business plan. This latest round is an important milestone for our company as we prepare to take advantage of semiconductor manufacturers' renewed investment activity in enabling technologies like our ChemetriQ solution to support their advanced product roadmaps."

New semiconductor process challenges drive greater need for NVD inspection
As new materials, processes and structures are introduced into IC manufacturing, the surface quality requirements of semiconductor wafers become more stringent. Surface quality control issues can give rise to a variety of NVDs—such as organic and inorganic residues, metallic contaminants and process-induced charging—which can lead to significant yield loss and are undetectable by optical inspection systems.

Qcept's ChemetriQ platform provides rapid, full-wafer, inline detection of NVDs. It accomplishes this by employing an innovative, non-destructive technology that detects work function variations on the wafer's surface. The ChemetriQ platform is sensitive to 5E9 atoms/cm2, which exceeds the requirements outlined in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) for metallic contamination detection down to the 22-nm node.

Qcept has systems in use worldwide across the semiconductor ecosystem, including memory and logic device manufacturers, wafer manufacturers and process equipment suppliers.