Wooptix and the EIC Accelerator: Measuring Chip Wafers in 3D

Wooptix, founded in Madrid in 2014, measures the shape of silicon wafers, the discs on which chips are made, to fractions of a nanometre. Its method, wavefront phase imaging, reads the phase of reflected light with a standard digital image sensor.

The European Innovation Council granted €2,500,000 towards a €6.36 million project that ran from October 2022 to September 2024. According to the CORDIS report, it produced "a complete lab and fab tool" with "precision of 3.16 nm measuring a 300 wafer in a fully automated fab tool", and the method "has been validated by ASML", the Dutch lithography maker, in a joint paper. Spanish register data compiled by Empresia show 26 employees and annual sales between €500,000 and €1 million.

Where Wooptix Stands Today

Wooptix is a partner in 10ACe, a €98 million EU chip consortium running from May 2024 to April 2027 that covers the value chain for 10 Angstrom CMOS chips, "from chip design to lithography to process technology and finally chip metrology"; Wooptix's EU share is €506,048. The register shows a capital increase of €94,480 in February 2025, after an increase in September 2023, a reduction in March 2024 and a board restructuring. In November 2025 Wooptix launched Phemet, an in-line wafer metrology system that it says "captures more than 16 million data points in one second". Its chief executive said it had "worked with tier one memory and logic customers to test Phemet" and looked forward "to shipping the Phemet system to multiple key customers soon for high-volume manufacturing". No customer was named.

The Technology: Reading Light's Phase With a Camera

CORDIS describes the aim as measuring "the full 300mm silicon wafer geometry with a lateral resolution of 3.2µm and a height resolution of 0.3nm acquired in a single image snapshot in 100ms while capturing 15 million data points". The method captures reflected light at two points along the optical path with a standard sensor. The report claims that "a single system from Wooptix can serve all the wafer geometry needs for a 5nm fab".

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

The project promised to upgrade Wooptix's system from a 50mm to a 300mm field of view. CORDIS reports a lab tool and a fully automated fab tool, 3.16 nm precision and validation by ASML. It names no customers, fabs or sales; the product that followed, Phemet, was launched in November 2025.

1. Full 300mm wafer measurementDeliveredUnder one second.
2. A fab-ready toolDeliveredFully automated.
3. Industry validationDeliveredJoint paper with ASML.
4. Chipmaker customersNot shownTested with tier-one fabs; none named.

What Has Happened Since the Award

The Money

The award was blended finance, and the EIC Fund is a Wooptix investor. On 18 February 2025 Wooptix announced a Series C of more than €10 million led by Samsung Venture Investment Corporation and Spain's state tech fund SETT, with the existing investors Bullnet Capital, the EIC Fund, Intel Capital, Mondragon and TEL Venture Capital, to speed up product development and international growth. The register shows a capital increase in February 2025, taking share capital to €601,552. Wooptix paid €3.86 million of the EIC project itself. Spanish register data compiled by Empresia put its annual sales between €500,000 and €1 million.

Why Europe Should Care

The EU funds chip-manufacturing research through its Key Digital Technologies joint undertaking, which backs 10ACe, and Wooptix is one of the metrology partners there. The EIC paid for a tool that ASML helped validate, and the EIC Fund sits alongside the venture arms of Samsung, Intel and TEL as a shareholder. Whether fabs buy it in volume is still open.

The Verdict

Wooptix has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, investor releases, EU project data and Spanish register information, linked throughout.