Jul 30 2008
Carbon Nanoprobes, Inc., an emerging nanotech solutions provider, welcomes its first revenue from two major semiconductor manufacturers. Contracts with major semiconductor companies are a huge milestone for CN Probes. Coupled with these orders is the excitement relayed in a recent press release detailing an outsourced production agreement. Brian Ruby, CN Probes' founder and CEO, comments "these custom orders are taking place before our outsourced manufacturing line goes into full production. It's an exciting display of traction and market acceptance when your clients have such high-value applications that they will pay you to do custom work before you are in full-scale production."
Says Ruby, “this is an exciting day many years in the making. We're humbled to be counted among a narrow group of nanotechnology companies who have booked revenue. Although significant milestones need to be met in the future, we are encouraged to begin making the transition from a research and development company to a sales and marketing focused organization. Booking this revenue is the official ‘kick-off' of a transition numerous nanotechnology firms never achieve.”
CN Probes is developing a highly economic, proprietary, scalable, and flexible manufacturing process of a carbon nanotube probe tip for use in the atomic force microscope (AFM). This process alleviates the current production woes of carbon nanotube AFM tips. Their tips empower advanced imaging technology, improving the way researchers conduct their research – accelerating the speed and enhancing the quality of their results. CN Probes' technology upgrades the tip machinery of the AFMs and, therefore, enables researchers to bridge the gap between nanoscale theory and product reality. Ruby explains, “We take pictures of tiny things. We're nanophotographers and our pictures provide value to scientists in multiple fields - from biotech to chip fabrication - to, as CN Probes' tagline proclaims, ‘See more and know more.'”
The semiconductor clients themselves have highly specialized needs. “The work we are doing with them,” explains Ruby, “is a reflection of where the industry is headed. In order to make a chip with high-yields, you need to inspect it multiple times along the production path. Chipmakers call this process metrology. As chip dimensions shrink to a scale of tens of billionths of a meter (10's of nanometers), metrology becomes increasingly difficult. CN Probes adds value to its two new clients by providing them with a metrology solution that will resolve the smallest of chip features.”
CN Probes' technology is not limited to one application area. Their tips are more than a quality control instrument for leading semiconductor fabs. The product is also a primary research tool for scientists doing any type of work at the nanoscale.