Infinitesima Rebrands at 25, Targets $6 Billion 3D Metrology Market

Infinitesima, the Bristol-based semiconductor metrology company, puts its addressable market at more than US$6 billion over the next ten years as it marks its 25th anniversary with a complete rebrand aimed at production-speed 3D measurement for advanced packaging, chiplets and high-bandwidth memory.

The company's Rapid Probe Microscope (RPM) technology already runs in high-volume semiconductor production. Customers and collaborators include SK hynix, imec and ASML. The system, integrated into Infinitesima's Metron3D platform, combines Hybrid Optical-AFM with optical techniques to deliver true surface 3D measurement at high speed — a capability the company positions against conventional metrology it says is struggling to keep pace with increasingly three-dimensional device structures.

From biology lab to fab floor

Professor Andrew Humphris founded Infinitesima in 2001 to commercialise research from his PhD at the University of Bristol. The original work pioneered a faster approach to atomic force microscopy (AFM), developed to image rapidly changing biological processes. The combination of speed and precision proved more consequential in semiconductor manufacturing, where the same technique now addresses process control at the angstrom scale.

Humphris, who remains Chief Technology Officer, said: "When I founded the company 25 years ago, conventional AFM was not fast enough to 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."

Why the measurement gap is widening

The physics constraint is structural. As advanced computing and AI drive demand for faster chips built with heterogeneous integration, device architectures have grown vertically: stacked dies, through-silicon vias, hybrid bonding interfaces and chiplet assemblies. Planar metrology techniques that measure two-dimensional features cannot resolve buried and stepped 3D interfaces at production throughput. The result, in Infinitesima's framing, is a growing measurement gap and rising demand for angstrom-scale 3D process control.

President and CEO Peter Jenkins framed the rebrand around that shift. "Twenty-five years is an important milestone for the company, but this is very much about what comes next," he said. "Semiconductor manufacturing is entering a period of extraordinary change, driven by AI demand and increasingly complex chip architectures."

Jenkins identified three emerging manufacturing technologies where the company sees significant opportunity for advanced 3D metrology:

• hybrid bonding
• High NA EUV lithography
• advanced packaging

Capacity build-out in Korea and Taiwan

To support growth, Infinitesima is expanding its applications and manufacturing presence in Korea and Taiwan, working with local partners to support customers close to leading-edge fabs. Jenkins said: "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."

The company did not disclose installation counts, throughput figures or measurement accuracy specifications for Metron3D in the announcement, and no independent performance data accompanies the rebrand. The US$6 billion market estimate is the company's own.

The open question for process engineers is whether hybrid optical-AFM can hold angstrom-scale accuracy at the takt times hybrid bonding and High NA EUV overlay control demand — and whether the Korea and Taiwan expansion converts evaluation collaborations into standard production metrology steps.