Interview with Jacob Bertrand, CEO of Platypus Technologies

Interview with Jacob Bertrand, CEO of Platypus Technolgies, December 2024.

Interviewer: Good morning, Jake. You recently joined Platypus as CEO. What industries and product types do Platypus serve?

Jacob Bertrand: Platypus grew after acquiring Thin-Film Labs in 2022, leveraging deposition technologies such as e-Beam and ion assisted deposition.  We serve industries that require high-precision conductive, organic, non-organic and optical thin film coatings, including semiconductors, optics, and advanced biomedical materials.

Our products range from metallization on whole wafers to patterned devices such as patterned electrodes and micro-arrays.

One of our core product lines has been cell assays for biomedical applications providing cell migration (2D) and cell invasion (3D) assays using Exclusion Zone technology to ensure reproducible cell-free regions for each experiment and reliably monitor cell invasion through an extracellular matrix respectively.

Interviewer: Briefly, how has your experience led you to this point?

Jacob Bertrand: My background includes extensive work in Atomic Layer Deposition, PVD/PECVD technologies, process development, with specialized knowledge in deposition chemistries. More recently, I've operated a consultancy that has sharpened my focus on understanding customer and market needs across different thin film deposition technologies, process challenges, and product requirements.

My aim now is to deeply understand how we can best assist our customers with products, service capabilities, and quality assurance, while expanding our offerings in analytical services to ensure we meet performance demands at the right measurement scales for customer confidence.

Interviewer: What are your goals upon joining Platypus?

Jacob Bertrand: My primary goals are to increase Platypus' market presence and visibility and to expand the market reach of our products. In some cases, we are the only solution available, which is not widely known.

Interviewer: Can you give an example of that?

Jacob Bertrand: We produce ultra-flat gold (and other metals) on wafers with a 3.5 Angstrom RMS roughness and 4-micron crystallites, suitable for film thickness up to 4 microns. This is crucial for applications like single molecule FTIR work, where we are the only supplier of substrates that make this possible.

Gold coated Silicon wafers

Interviewer: What specific services does Platypus offer?

Jacob Bertrand: We specialize in metallization on whole wafers or patterned and masked substrates. Additionally, we provide optical coatings for various industries, including quantum computing, medical devices, automotive, and aerospace. Our capabilities extend to substrate dicing, photolithography, and ensuring coatings meet specific customer needs in these sectors.

Interviewer: Are there other key differentiators of Platypus?

Jacob Bertrand: Our team is exceptionally knowledgeable and customer-focused, dedicated to co-development for niche applications. Being a small, agile team, we can respond quickly to nearly impossible timelines. A significant portion of our customer base includes research institutions and universities with whom we collaborate closely, often working within their funding constraints such as leveraging ‘in-kind’ work.

In-house, we use XRR, XRD, and ellipsometry to characterize our coatings, ensuring we deliver what our customers need.

Interviewer: What do you want to achieve with the team?

 Jacob Bertrand: My goal is to ensure clear communication about the ‘why’ behind our decisions and growth direction, fostering a unified approach while maintaining our creativity, agility and dedication to solving customer problems. As a small company, I also want to focus on the personal development and growth of the team.

Interviewer: What is your near-term vision for product development that you can share?

Jacob Bertrand: We're quite nimble in offering custom optical coatings and metallization for OEM development projects. For instance, we're investigating AR lens replacement of old telescopes and camera lenses, a unique offering as there's virtually no one else doing this. Our team can source custom lens sizes and apply appropriate AR coatings to restore valuable and collectible telescope and camera lenses.

Interviewer: Where can I find out more about Platypus Technologies?

Jacob Bertrand: Our website is https://www.platypustech.com/ and you can also find us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.