Due to the demand in nanomanipulation, biophysical probing, nanomechanics, nanoelectronics and metrology the AFM probes market is growing fast.
AFM probes sector
AFM probes (also known as tips) are an important segment of the overall AFM sector, and the market is very competitive. The annual market for AFM probes is estimated to be anywhere between $250- $400 million in 2012. The main markets for AFM probes are academia, research labs and the semiconductors and electronics sector, with growing markets in biology and the life sciences and nanotechnology and nanomaterials research. In semiconductors , the measurement and manipulation of nanomaterials becomes increasingly challenging as the continuous shrinking of dimensions requires higher lateral resolution. The AFM has become a standard and widely spread instrument for characterizing such nanoscale devices and can be found in most of today’s research and development areas. However, the characterization of three dimensional high-aspect ratio and sidewall structures can prove problematic. Scanning probe tips are applied to standard AFM cantilevers offering unprecedented freedom in adapting the shape and size of the tips to the surface topology of the specific application.
