In 2011, the TNO Nano-OptoMechatronic Instrumentation group, led by Hamed Sadeghian, began developing a groundbreaking concept in High-Throughput Scanning Probe Microscopy. They realized that as semiconductor devices shrank to atomic-scale dimensions and adopted three-dimensional configurations, traditional metrology tools were failing to meet the precision and throughput requirements of advanced chip manufacturing. This insight sparked a five-year journey of innovation that culminated in the founding of Nearfield Instruments B.V. in January 2016 as a spin-off of TNO.
Since then, Nearfield Instruments has evolved from that initial spark into a global leader in semiconductor metrology, developing revolutionary atomic force microscopy systems that deliver atom-scale resolution 3D metrology at industry-level throughput. Their flagship products, QUADRA and AUDIRA, now enable the world's leading chipmakers to increase production yields and create smaller, more powerful microelectronics that power everything from AI and 5G to autonomous mobility and cloud computing.