Tiptek in 2024: Highlights and Progress

Message from Leadership

Happy New Year from Tiptek!

Years ago, I had the privilege of spending a day with Intel co-founder Gordan Moore and his family.  During his visit, a colleague asked him how many future transistor nodes he could envision at any given time.  “I could only ever see a generation or two ahead,” was his response as he reflected upon his career. That’s quite a comment on the relentless yet unpredictable innovation in the semiconductor industry since at least 25 such advances occurred during his work life. For those of you who don’t know, Moore was a semiconductor pioneer who correctly foretold transistors on a single chip would double in number every 18-24 months! With no sign of slowing down, the semiconductor industry remains a dynamic and exciting arena in which to work and do business.

Like the semiconductor industry, Tiptek continues to grow and innovate. What a remarkable year 2024 was for our company! Here are a few highlights. In 2024, Tiptek:

    • Displayed products on three continents for the first time – North America, Asia, and Europe.
    • Met all milestones and await final approval for ISO 9001 certification, which we expect in the first quarter of 2025.
    • Implemented a new accounting system to streamline order processing and a new manufacturing control and tracking system.
    • Hired two additional Ph.D. scientists.
    • Received a highly competitive fast-track CHIPS for America SBIR grant award through the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This award has jumpstarted our efforts to make high frequency active AC probes.
    • Received two other Phase I SBIR/STTR grant awards (NSF and DOE) that will allow us to develop a fundamental discovery made in our laboratories, which we expect will lead to novel and advanced products.

Professionally, it has been a busy year for me as well.  I co-chaired the nanoprobing/SPM User Group at ISTFA 2024 and will be lead chair of the User Group at ISTFA 2025. I’ve also been invited to join the EDFAS Die Level Roadmap Council Post Isolation Domain group, and I look forward to participating.

Finally, as Moore’s prediction toward miniaturization slows, other innovations such as back side power distribution, new AI chip architectures, and advanced 3D packaging promise to keep our industry expanding.  Tiptek plans to grow right along with it – through technological leadership and a relentless focus on you, our customers, and your failure analysis needs!

To all our customers and friends, I wish you a happy and a prosperous 2025!

Scott
Scott P. Lockledge, Ph.D.
CEO, Tiptek

P.S. For more details on our 2024 accomplishments, see below.


Grant Achievements

We’re deeply grateful for the highly competitive and prestigious grants awarded to Tiptek in 2024, which support our commitment to advancing nanotechnology:

    • NIST CHIPS Metrology Program: Tiptek received a fast-track Phase I &II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the NIST CHIPS Metrology Program. This SBIR project aims to create a new and critically needed semiconductor manufacturing metrology: Gigahertz frequency SEM-based nanoprobes.
    • National Science Foundation: Tiptek received a Phase I U.S. National Science Foundation SBIR award to conduct research and development work on ultrasharp nanoprobes for semiconductor diagnostics.
    • DOE Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office: Tiptek also received a Phase I SBIR award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Material & Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO). This project aims to meet a critical national need by developing improved methods to fabricate quantum computers, as part of the EES2 goal of increasing microelectronics energy efficiency one-thousand-fold in the next 20 years. The project utilizes a tip-based manufacturing approach to solving key hurdles in the development of spin quantum qubits. This work supports and augments our understanding of nanoprobe tips.

We’re honored to receive this support and remain dedicated to advancing and improving our products to meet the critical needs of the semiconductor failure analysis community.


Tradeshows and Conferences

2024 was filled with opportunities to connect, share, and grow. This past year, Tiptek attended the tradeshows and conferences on three separate continents:

    • ESREF 2024 in Parma, Italy
    • IPFA 2024 in Singapore, the Republic of Singapore
    • ISTFA 2024 in San Diego, United States

These events allowed us to connect with new customers, strengthen relationships with existing partners, and engage with the semiconductor failure analysis community.

Thank you to everyone who visited our booths and shared insights. We’re excited to continue these conversations and collaborations in the coming year.


Welcoming New Leadership
This year, Tiptek welcomed two accomplished scientists to the Tiptek team:

  • Dr. Joshua Ballard, Associate Director of Technology Development, is leading our efforts to develop cutting-edge gigahertz frequency nanoprobes for the electrical failure analysis of advanced semiconductors.
  • Dr. Pamela Pena Martin, Associate Director of Technology Development, will play a key role in Tiptek’s ongoing projects, including research and development of ultrasharp nanoprobes for semiconductor diagnostics.

We are thrilled to have them on board. Their expertise and leadership are driving Tiptek toward an exciting future of innovation.


ISO 9001 Certification
In 2024, we met all key milestones towards achieving ISO 9001:2015 certification. We completed our Stage 2 Audit at the end of the year and are on track to achieve ISO 9001 certification by early 2025. The process of becoming ISO certified has strengthened our production and business systems and will allow Tiptek to maintain the quality and product consistency required by our nanoprobe customers.


Upcoming Events

We’re looking forward to connecting with customers and partners again in 2025! Tiptek will be participating in:

  • CAM Workshop in Halle, Germany
  • IPFA 2025 in Penang, Malaysia
  • ISTFA 2025 in Pasadena, California, United States

If you’re attending these events, we would love to connect with you—stay tuned for more details about our presentations and booth locations!


Stay Connected

2024 has been an incredible year, and we are so grateful to have your support. Your feedback and collaboration drive our mission to innovate and advance nanoprobe technology.

Here’s to a bright and successful 2025!

Best regards,
The Tiptek Team