DeepTech Unleashed EP 12: Revolutionising Semiconductor Metrology with Hamed Sadeghian

In this episode of DeepTech Unleashed, host Christian Noske sits down with Hamed Sadeghian, the co-founder and CEO of Nearfield Instruments. Based in the Netherlands, Nearfield is a semiconductor metrology powerhouse that is solving one of the industry’s most critical bottlenecks: the ability to inspect microchips at the atomic scale without destroying them.‍

Hamed shares his unique journey, from founding his first company at age 19 in Iran to leading Nearfield through a massive €135 million Series C round in 2024 to meet the global demand for AI-ready chips. The conversation dives deep into the “reverse origin story” of a technical founder, the philosophy of “customer obsession”, and the reality of scaling a complex hardware startup in a conservative, consolidated industry.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• The Metrology Gap: How Nearfield identified a critical need in the industry as Moore’s Law pushed chips to the atomic scale.
• Customer Obsession: Why deep tech success depends on solving a customer’s specific “pain” rather than just promoting great technology.
• Building an Ecosystem: How a small startup can play with industry “gorillas” by leveraging a high-tech supply chain and strategic partnerships.
• Scaling Challenges: Navigating the transition from CTO to CEO and building a global team that takes end-to-end ownership.
• Future Trends: Hamed’s excitement for the transition towards quantum innovations and hybrid silicon-photonics solutions.

Memorable Moments:

• The First “Aha!” Moment: A chief engineer seeing data from a proof-of-concept that no other tool could provide.
• The COVID Sacrifice: Shipping the first systems in the middle of a global pandemic, with engineers spending weeks in quarantine to ensure customer delivery.

‍

Find all episodes here 

‍

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction to Nearfield Instruments and Hamed’s Journey
02:49 – The Evolution of Semiconductor Metrology
05:43 – Challenges in the Semiconductor Industry
08:46 – Building a Startup in a Consolidated Market
11:56 – Leveraging Ecosystems for Growth
14:29 – Customer Obsession and Team Dynamics
17:36 – Navigating the Transition from CTO to CEO
19:59 – Moments of Magic in the Journey
22:55 – Future Trends in Technology: Quantum and Beyond

About the Guest:

Hamed Sadeghian is the co-founder and CEO of Nearfield Instruments. A prolific innovator with over 60 patents, Hamed has built a career at the intersection of precision engineering, optics, and advanced semiconductor equipment. Before founding Nearfield in 2016 as a spin-off from TNO, he led the nano-optomechatronics group at TNO and held a professorship at Eindhoven University of Technology. His entrepreneurial journey began at the age of 19 in Iran, and today he is recognised as a leader in developing atomic-scale process control solutions for the worldwide semiconductor manufacturing industry.

Follow Hamed Sadeghian here. Find out more about Nearfield Instruments here.