Professor Ge Haixiong, Chairman and Chief Scientist of PRINANO, Interviewed by Xiaofanzhuo

Xiaofanzhuo Interview with Professor Ge Haixiong, Chairman and Chief Scientist of PRINANO: Achieving Breakthroughs in Semiconductor Manufacturing to Eliminate Technology Bottlenecks

Dr. Ge Haixiong, a former student of Professor Stephen Y. Chou, brings 20 years of technical expertise to address critical technology gaps. In 2017, he co-founded PRINANO Technology with partner Deng Mengmeng to advance nanoimprint lithography (NIL) in China.

Recent news of Canon launching its FPA-1200NZ2c nanoimprint semiconductor manufacturing equipment has energized the global NIL industry. This breakthrough marks a turning point in the long-standing dominance of ASML in lithography, shifting the competitive dynamics between the two technologies.

For decades, traditional lithography has dominated semiconductors, AR, and VR fields. Since overcoming technical barriers in the mid-1990s, lithography has been refined to its limits, with ASML emerging as the undisputed leader. This has led to significant disparities in lithography development between China and the rest of the world.

Nanoimprint technology, invented in 1995 by Chinese-American academician Stephen Y. Chou, is quietly disrupting this landscape. With less than 30 years of development, NIL remains in its early stages globally, free from the imbalances seen in lithography.

Dr. Ge Haixiong, leveraging two decades of research under Professor Chou, founded PRINANO in 2017 to bridge this technological gap. Today, PRINANO is a integrated high-end micro-nano manufacturer offering equipment, materials, and processes, collaborating deeply with leaders in semiconductors, optoelectronics, biomedicine, displays, and automotive electronics.

Dr. Ge notes, "With Canon’s pioneering efforts and growing industry demand, China’s NIL technology is poised for rapid advancement in the coming years."

01 Technical Leadership Stems from Long-Term Accumulation

Canon’s success derives from its legacy as a DUV lithography leader, with deep积累 in semiconductors and micro-nano manufacturing. Since 2004, Canon has invested in NIL R&D, acquiring Molecular Imprints in 2014 to become a global NIL leader after a decade of effort. This underscores how technological leadership requires long-term dedication.

Dr. Ge’s confidence in founding PRINANO stems from his extensive NIL expertise. His work at Princeton on UV-curable NIL materials and sub-5nm resolution remains cutting-edge. As one of China’s earliest NIL researchers, he returned in 2004 and has since developed pioneering innovations, pushing NIL into uncharted territory.

"Simply replicating foreign technology won’t achieve breakthroughs," Dr. Ge emphasizes. The NIL industry has faced multiple起伏 over 20 years, testing resilience. "Craftsmanship" is a recurring theme in his discourse, though finding like-minded partners has been challenging.

He shared a past venture failure: around 2012, NIL showed promise for LED chip applications, reducing costs by 50% compared to lithography. A Suzhou-listed company proposed investing in a venture for patterned sapphire substrates but withdrew due to cash flow issues, halting the project.

Unlike ventures relying on impressive pitches, Dr. Ge’s approach is grounded in long-term R&D. CEO Deng Mengmeng notes that PRINANO’s core team of 10+ technicians shares a passion for NIL and embodies this craftsmanship, forming a promising foundation.

- PRINANO's Nanoimprint Achievements in Optical Devices -

02 NIL Requires Steady, Solid Development

How can NIL overtake lithography under such dominance? Given their overlapping applications, NIL’s growth faces significant barriers. Dr. Ge acknowledges that challenging lithography’s market requires substantial time, funding, and人力. Yet, NIL’s survival over 20 years proves its viability.

He highlights that NIL has faced skepticism since its inception. Few know that Canon’s NIL pioneer, C.G. Wilson, co-invented chemical amplification resists—key to modern lithography. Today, chipmakers globally are exploring NIL, with the market projected to grow from $2.29billionin2022toover$5 billion by 2029.

However, NIL’s industrialization remains immature, requiring upstream-downstream collaboration to develop industry-suited solutions. Dr. Ge cautions against hastily adopting "production-ready" equipment without consensus on technical needs, as mismatched tools can hinder innovation.

NIL’s application demands gradual, iterative collaboration between suppliers and manufacturers—not just equipment or materials alone. Despite promising signs, steady progress is essential.

Canon’s breakthroughs bypass lithography’s optical challenges, offering NIL new hope. Dr. Ge explains that NIL replaces lithography’s exposure step, avoiding complex optics and enabling low-cost 3D nanostructuring. It also offers high throughput via parallel processing but requires multidisciplinary solutions to address defects and alignment issues from physical contact.

Beyond semiconductors, NIL applies to optics (e.g., AR/VR waveguides), displays (microlens arrays), biomedicine (gene chips), energy (solar cells), and environmental sensors.

- PRINANO Subsidiary: Nanoimprint Materials R&D Center -

03 Self-Control Over All Links Ensures Discourse Power

Recently, more Chinese companies have entered the NIL arena, including Meidekai, BOE, Sunny Group, Phoenix Optics, Crystal Optech, Huichuangda, and Goertek. Most focus on single segments like materials (e.g., Ningbo Tianxuan) or optical devices, but few master the entire chain.

PRINANO’s advantage lies in its closed-loop control from materials to equipment, ensuring both technical leadership and cost efficiency. Dr. Ge notes it is China’s only integrated high-end micro-nano manufacturer offering full-stack NIL solutions.

NIL resists are as critical as photoresists in lithography. PRINANO’s subsidiary in Shaoxing produces 30+ types of resists for semiconductors, optics, and functional applications. Its custom UV-curable materials lead the industry and are available to partners.

PRINANO offers equipment for all scenarios: desktop R&D, semi-automated systems, full-automation mass production, and auxiliary tools. Its proprietary processes include thermal/UV curing, composite polymer template replication, residue-free imprinting, curved-surface patterning, and dual-chamber/dual-transfer techniques.

Dr. Ge stresses that controlling all segments prevents bottlenecks. PRINANO has eliminated reliance on imported resists while optimizing synergy between processes, equipment, and materials.

Though not yet in mass production, PRINANO is sampling with partners. Equipment sales currently dominate revenue, while material scale-up awaits hazardous chemical permits.

- PRINANO's Logo Imprinted via High-Precision Inkjet Printing Technology -

PRINANO’s angel round, led exclusively by FreeS Capital with tens of millions of RMB, will expand technical teams and advance mass-production equipment and material production lines.