PrimeNano

PrimeNano manufactures its own shielded probes. We use a wafer scale MEMS fabrication process to manufacture probes with co-axially shielded cantilevers and solid metal probe tips. The probes are coated with metal on both sides and have a center conductive line. The probes have 50nm tip radius to balance the requirements of topographical resolution and sensitivity of the electrical signal. Since this is a near-field signal response, it is dependent on the volume of material in the localized electromagnetic field at the probe tip-sample interface. If the tip is too sharp the reflected signal is too small. The typical spatial resolution of the electrical measurements depends somewhat on the electrical properties of the sample. For example, for doped and metallic samples we have resolved electrical features well below 20 nm.

PrimeNano is an early stage, privately held analytical instrument company. We have commercialized a patented microwave impedance imaging technology developed at Stanford University. PrimeNano’s ScanWave product, introduced in 2013, enables imaging of electrical properties of materials (conductivity and permittivity) at sub-micron dimensions, using atomic force microscopes (AFMs).

As one of the fastest growing instruments companies we have doubled our business in 2016 and 2017. We are on track to do the same in 2018, and are planning to release three new products.