Infinitesima Marks 25 Years of Innovation with New brand
Infinitesima, the UK semiconductor metrology company, is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the launch of a new brand, reflecting the company’s evolution from a university spin-out into a trusted technology partner to leading semiconductor manufacturers world wide.
in 2001 by Professor Andrew Humphris to commercialise research developed during his PhD at the University of Bristol, the company pioneered a faster approach to atomic force microscopy (AFM). Originally developed to image rapidly changing biological processes. the technology’s combination of speed and precision opened up significant applications in semiconductor manufacturing.
Twenty-five years later, as the semiconductor industry approaches a major manufacturing inflection point, Infinitesima is entering its next phase. Advanced packaging, chiplets, high-bandwidth memory and increasingly complex three-dimensional architectures are creating growing demand for production-speed 3-dimensional metrology, one of the industry’s most important manufacturing challenges. The company estimates its addressable semiconductor metrology market will grow to more than US$6 billion over the next ten years.
Its Rapid Probe Microscope (RPM) hybrid technology combines Hybrid Optical-AFM with optical techniques to enable true surface 3D measurement at high speed. Integrated into the company’s Metron3D platform, it is commercially deployed in high-volume semiconductor production, with customers and collaborators including SK hynix, imec and ASML.
Infinitesima’s new identity reflects both how the company has developed over the past 25 years and its ambitions for the future, as advanced computing such as Artificial Intelligence, ‘AI’ drives demand for faster, more powerful chips increasingly integrated using heterogeneous integration and advanced packaging techniques.
Peter Jenkins, President and CEO of Infinitesima, said: “Twenty-five years is an important milestone for the company, but this is very much about what comes next. Semiconductor manufacturing is entering a period of extraordinary change, driven by AI demand and increasingly complex chip architectures. Our new brand reflects the company we have become and our ambition for the future. We want to give semiconductor manufacturers the accuracy and clarity they need to understand what is happening at the angstrom scale, helping them improve process control, maintain yield and manufacture the next generation of advanced devices. As semiconductor structures become increasingly three-dimensional, conventional metrology techniques are struggling to keep pace, creating a growing measurement gap and increasing the need for angstrom-scale 3D process control. Infinitesima sees significant opportunities for advanced 3D metrology across emerging manufacturing technologies including hybrid bonding, High NA EUV lithography, and advanced packaging. To support future growth, we are continuing to invest in our capabilities, including expanding our applications and manufacturing presence in Korea and Taiwan, together with local partners to support our customers”.
Professor Andrew Humphris, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Infinitesima, said: “When I founded the company 25 years ago, conventional AFM was not fast enough o capture the processes we wanted to understand. That fundamental challenge – of seeing and understanding what was previously impossible – has remained at the heart of what we do. We have come a long way from those early days at the University of Bristol, but I genuinely believe the biggest opportunities for Infinitesima are still ahead of us.”
For more information:www.infinitesima.com
