The World Market For Scanning Probe Microscopes

World market revenues for scanning probe microscopes in 2010 were approximately US$660 million. The main market for scanning probe microscopes is in the semiconductors and electronics sector were they are routinely used in product inspection and failure analysis for measuring sub-micrometer features on IC-boards. They are also widely used in universities, research facilities and scientific centers worldwide.

In production environments (such as microelectronics and solar), precision manufacturing industries, (such as medical device manufacturing, automotive and aerospace) and other related industries, scanning probe microscopes enable users to monitor their products throughout the manufacturing process to improve yields, reduce costs, and improve product quality.

Veeco was the world’s largest manufacturer of scanning probe microscopes. The company’s metrology business has since been bought by Bruker Nano. Other significant market players include Agilent, JPK, NT-MDT and Park Systems and Asylum Research.

Main end user markets for these companies are the semiconductor and electronics capital equipment, nanomaterials research and the life sciences sectors.