Back to List

From Lab Bench to Global AFM Business Leadership: 40 Years of AFM Innovation and Business Challenges

Dr. Sang-Il Park | Park Systems, Corp | CEO

Abstract
Marking the 40th anniversary of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), this keynote will reflect on my four-decade journey from graduate student under Prof. Calvin Quate to founder and CEO of the global AFM market leader, Park Systems. I will share three key business challenges: founding the first AFM company in Silicon Valley in 1988; returning to Korea in 1997 to launch Park Systems in a challenging start-up climate; and taking the company public in 2015 to enter the highly competitive semiconductor metrology market. I will also highlight our core AFM technology innovations — orthogonal scan systems, True Non-Contact Mode, automatic scan parameter optimization, automatic probe exchange, and automatic laser beam alignment — that drove our growth. Today, Park Systems leads the global AFM market with $150M in revenue, over $1B market cap, and 600 employees worldwide.