About Us
MONSTR Sense is a company built by ultrafast spectroscopy pioneers with expertise in electronic signal processing and imaging microscopy. Focused on Ultrafast for Imaging, we are developing easy-to-use and innovative materials analysis tools to solve challenging characterization and inspection problems. As a leader in coherent spectroscopic microscopy we are advancing materials characterization & semiconductor inspection for fundamental research and industry users.
Company History
System solutions for Turnkey Materials Analysis
Throughout its first years, MONSTR Sense has been a component manufacturer. As our applications grow more industry-focused, we are committed to making our tools more integrated and accessible. In 2024, MONSTR Sense released its KRAKEN Turnkey Ultrafast Microscope, the first of-its-kind ultrafast microscope that has everything integrated, from the laser to the computer controls. We are looking forward to pushing the boundaries of what is possible and bringing Ultrafast for Imaging to a shared user facility or cleanroom near you.
Full 6″ Wafer inspection
Moving from micron-sized scientific samples to full 6″ wafers is no simple feat. Yet, in less than two years, MONSTR Sense demonstrated defect detection maps on full 6″ wafers using its patent-pending ultrafast imaging technique and machine-learning-enabled algorithms. In 2023, MONSTR Sense premiered its compound semiconductor inspection service, which is being used by key players in the silicon carbide industry for wafer inspection.
Compound Semiconductors
One of the most rapid and pressing transformations of the current decade is the need for higher power, higher frequency electronics. The default semiconductor, silicon, is not cut out for those demanding applications. Instead, silicon carbide and gallium nitride are at the forefront of electric vehicles, energy storage, and rapid charging platforms. This group of wide bandgap, compound semiconductors comes with its own set of challenges: Defects. Traditional defect inspection methods are not sufficient to characterize killer defects in these materials. Seeing the need for rapid and reliable in-line inspection tools, MONSTR Sense secured the support of an NSF SBIR Phase II to dedicate its efforts towards ultrafast imaging of compound semiconductors.
NESSIE is born
Informed by previous R&D efforts, MONSTR Sense premiered the NESSIE laser-scanning microscope. A standalone product, NESSIE integrates seamlessly with the BIGFOOT spectrometer as well as common cryostat types present in many customers labs. BIGFOOT and NESSIE together allow for hyperspectral and decay time imaging as well as the ability to do advanced spectroscopic characterization at select sample spots, a favorite feature among customers.
A pivot to microscopy
In the course of the company’s founding, co-founder Eric Martin dedicated much time talking to potential customers. While talking to customers within the semiconductor industry, one quote really stuck with him: “If you can’t image it, it’s useless to us”. Supported by an NSF SBIR Phase I grant, in 2020 MONSTR Sense started the quest of combining advanced ultrafast spectroscopy with imaging.
The first product
In 2019, MONSTR Sense premiered its first product: The BIGFOOT collinear ultrafast spectrometer. What had previously taken up a 5’x16′ table in a sub-basement lab at the University of Michigan now fit within less than 15″x24″. The BIGFOOT incorporated, for the first time, MONSTR Sense’s patented reference phase-detection which allows continuous monitoring of the inteferometer phase and rapid scanning of the emission energy.
Company Formation – A vision for more accessible science
MONSTR Sense Technologies was founded with a simple goal: Taking something really hard – advanced ultrafast spectroscopy – and make it accessible for materials analysis. This goal was informed by the co-founders own research experience: Prof. Steven Cundiff was frustrated by the long-time it took new graduate students to pickup the ins-and-outs of the optical setups used in his lab to study semiconductors. Eric Martin, PhD, was impatient with the long acquisition times in multidimensional coherent spectroscopy, spending many late-nights in the lab monitoring data acquisition. Together they formed a vision for MONSTR Sense: Make multidimensional coherent spectroscopy easy and fast. Thus, MONSTR Sense was born.
Interested in joining the team? Check out our Careers page for available positions.