Fastmicro B.V. is a manufacturer of surface particle defect detection systems and equipment established over 15 years ago. The main product lines include sample surface particle defect scanning, particle deposition measurement instruments, and particle defect detection systems for applications such as compound semiconductor wafers, glass wafers, masks, and EUV/DUV mask pellicles.
The ranging product offerings of Fastmicro include analytics software to cover a wide variety of applications and processes, in-line defect inspection systems, transportable scanners and scanning module for system integration. The company's technology can detect particles down to 100 nanometers in size. It offers various operation modes, with inspection speeds up to 400 wafers per hour, and can provide inspection reports in ISO standards or PDF format.
Fastmicro was initially established through a collaboration with the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) to develop and research surface particle detection technology. Because the cleanliness level within semiconductor front-end processing plants and cleanrooms is crucial to the stability and yield of advanced semiconductor manufacturing, detecting tiny particles significantly impacts their operational needs. Today, tiny particles have a wide variety of composition, Fastmicro equipment plays a proactive role.
Because the company's equipment has the advantage of fast detection speed, it usually only takes about ten seconds to complete surface particle defect detection, which has been well recognized by customers. The standard equipment is roughly the size of a household microwave oven. The operative procedures start to use swab or sampling tool to collect a sample from the surface of an object, which is then placed into the detector to read the particle count. Fastmicro adheres to NIST standards and uses PSL (Polystyrene latex) material for calibration and particle measurement. They also provide an OEM design model, providing flexible integration scanning modules to precision semiconductor equipment customers, covering wide-area scanning and diverse testing needs.
The company began expanding its international business in 2022. At Semicon Taiwan 2025, in addition to engaging with Taiwan major foundry clients, the company is also entering the semiconductor equipment manufacturing supply chains. During equipment assembly, it is necessary to first confirm that the parts and components meet the product cleanliness level requirements before entering assembly. Each manufacturing link of supply chain requires confirmation that particle defect detection meets standard requirements, so Fastmicro equipment present strong business opportunities. This is currently the company's main market opportunity for expansion in Taiwan.