Startup Unisers raises funds for defect-detecting tools in chipmaking

FILE PHOTO: Semiconductor chips are seen on a circuit board of a computer in this illustration picture taken February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration

(Reuters) - Switzerland-based microchip toolmaker Unisers said on Thursday it had raised $14 million in a funding round led by Intel Capital to build new-technology demonstrator machines for trials by major chip-fabrication customers.

The machines would offer a new level of performance in the difficult task of detecting extraneous extremely small particles that ruin chips in production, said Ali Altun, chief executive and founder of Unisers, started in 2019.