TeraView Nets Venture Funding to Expand THz Inspection

TeraView Ltd. said it has received a major new investment from a consortium of American, Asian and European institutions led by Samsung Venture Investment Corp.

The investment will support the expansion of terahertz inspection systems for fault detection and quality assurance of semiconductor chipsets, particularly for the smartphone and tablet computing markets. The technology is also used for coatings inspection in automotive, pharmaceutical and other industries.

"This all comes at a critical and exciting time when applications of terahertz light are being validated and rapidly expanded, both of which have been driven and dominated by TeraView's work with the technology and our global customer base," said CEO Dr. Don Arnone.

TeraView said the investment would also advance its pre- and postsales customer support and infrastructure in Asia and the U.S.

New investors include Nordson Dage, a provider of x-ray inspection systems for the semiconductor industry. TeraView said Nordson views terahertz radiation as an important tool to address customer needs for fault detection and inspection of advanced integrated circuits, and as complementary to Nordson's own x-ray products.

London-based Q Street Capital and the Low Carbon Innovation Fund, administered by Turquoise International, also participated in the funding round.

Nondestructive terahertz radiation can pass through objects and to transmit images and spectroscopic information.

TeraView was spun out of Toshiba Research Europe in 2001.