Invisix, a Netherlands-based semiconductor metrology startup founded by ASML alumni, has closed an oversubscribed €20 million seed round to advance its soft x-ray measurement system toward production deployment. Hitachi Ventures, Transition Ventures, imec.xpand, Doosan Investment Co., and an unnamed tier-1 semiconductor manufacturer participated in the round.
The company addresses a gap that has widened as chip architectures go more three-dimensional: optical measurement tools can no longer resolve the buried nanoscale structures that determine whether a layer printed correctly. Slower, often destructive alternatives fill that gap today. "Semiconductor manufacturers can't build what they can't see," said Christina Porter, co-founder and CEO of Invisix.
The interesting part is how the system achieves that resolution at nanoscale depth. Invisix uses High Harmonic Generation, the process at the core of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Anne L'Huillier and collaborators, to produce broadband soft x-ray light from a pulsed laser exciting noble-gas atoms. That multi-wavelength signal carries more 3D structural information than single-wavelength optical tools. Proprietary reconstruction algorithms and machine learning convert it into detailed geometry of buried features, non-destructively. The underlying technology is licensed from ASML's own soft x-ray program, where Porter and CTO Sietse van der Post both worked before founding the company.
Invisix demonstrated results with Intel and imec in 2023, measuring key features in gate-all-around transistor architectures, one of the hardest targets for current metrology tools. The company recently relocated its 300mm-wafer-capable testbench to a new cleanroom in Eindhoven, where customer demonstrations are running in parallel with first-product development.
Funding covers team growth, completing the first shippable system, and expanding the demonstration program. The unnamed tier-1 semiconductor manufacturer among the investors stands out. Strategic participation at seed stage is uncommon for capital-intensive deep-tech hardware and signals at least one major chipmaker is already tracking the qualification timeline.
