Fastmicro picks up millions for scaling up particle detection systems

Geldrop-based Fastmicro has received a capital injection to boost global sales of its particle inspection systems.

René Raaijmakers

Fastmicro has been growing on its own for the past five years, without external funding. The Geldrop-based company is now turning to an external backer to accelerate the global rollout of its inspection systems and thus scale up to a company with global coverage. Value Creation Capital (VCC) is the investor; the amount wasn’t disclosed.

The market for systems that can properly and quickly map particle contamination will grow strongly with the increasing demands for cleaner production conditions, expects managing director and co-owner Erik Vermeulen. He says the semiconductor industry can save billions by smartly deploying Fastmicro’s systems, thereby increasing chip production yields.

Fastmicro systems for automatic inspection of wafers, among other things. Credit: Fastmicro

Darkfield scatterometry

Fastmicro’s equipment is all about the rapid detection of particles. The instruments image submicron contamination on a surface in a flash and then provide a report with the amount and location of the contamination. The company now has a series of systems that can detect particles on wafers and reticles in chip manufacturing as small as 100 nanometers. “Parts, assemblies, equipment, wafers, EUV pellicles, reticles and other critical components that require high-purity engineering cleanliness,” as described by Fastmicro, which also provides equipment to monitor processes in cleanrooms.

Central to the particle detection systems is darkfield scatterometry. Based on this technology, Rob Lansbergen at TNO conceived and developed the system from which Fastmicro later emerged. The first Fastmicro product used a method for recording particles with a standard sticker that was then measured in an instrument.

The first Fastmicro product uses a method of picking up particles with a standard sticker that’s then measured in an instrument. Credit: Fastmicro

ASML

Among other things, Lansbergen designed prototypes and equipment for ASML, OTB and other semicon companies. In particular, the great need in EUV lithography for ultrasonic wafers, pellicles and reticles gave the development a boost. With his own company, Lans Engineering, he continues to develop systems for Fastmicro, which now has an extensive portfolio of products and services to map surface particle contamination.

Lansbergen co-founded Fastmicro in 2019, along with TBRM Group (The Bicycle Repair Man), the startup engine of Marc Evers and S&T, an engineering firm focused on aerospace applications. The basic patents on which Fastmicro was built are still held by TNO and the “regional litho OEM” (ie ASML).