Automotive and Industrial Metrology
Metrology applications in diverse sectors like Automotive, Photovoltaics, Engineering, Packaging and Optics vary in sample size and substrate, measuring dimensions and their production environment.
Handling Diversity in Automotive and Industrial Manufacturing
FormFactor’s FRT measuring systems provide fully automated data about topography, step height, roughness, flatness, layer thickness and many other parameters – contact-free and non-destructive. Depending on the application, different measuring methods can be combined with point, line, area topography and layer thickness sensors and with atomic force microscopy in one measuring instrument – measuring ranges can vary from meters to sub-nanometers.
Automotive
Power and integrated circuits
The boost in e-mobility is encouraging competitive development in power devices. Traffic sign identification, oncoming or preceding vehicle detection, facial recognition and many other guidance and safety systems assist the driver and pave the path to autonomous vehicles. To satisfy these new applications, the demand for integrated circuits has increased considerably.
Typical measurement tasks:
• Step height
• Step width
Molded plastic parts for interior and exterior
Injection molded plastic parts for interior and exterior are mass produced. With this large investment, untreated causes of damage can incur very high costs in a very short time. In addition, the quality of these parts influences the automobile buying customer in a highly emotional journey. For example, one challenge is to make interior synthetic leather have the same texture as the natural product, but longer-lasting and lower in cost. With optical metrology the structures can be measured, and the results give insights about how real the texture feels to the consumer.
Typical measurement tasks:
• Topography
• Roughness
Industrial Manufacturing
Solar cells, solar panels, and solar fingers
The application of solar technology is vital for smart grids, distributed power generation and the full participation of consumers in the energy market.
In high-volume PV manufacturing, anti-reflection coating thicknesses, as well as inspection of holes and scratches, metal contact layers, silver and aluminum paste and the printing of contact fingers are typical applications.
Typical measurement tasks:
• Defect inspection
• Topography (shape, structure)
• Saw marks
• Step height and width
• Roughness
• Film thickness
Seals & gaskets, tubes, drills and saw teeth
Mechanical engineering is currently mastering Industry 4.0, yet the demand for ever more innovative and flexible solutions remains. Surface measurement technology in production engineering must be fast, accurate, robust, and automated, and ideally can be integrated into the production line.
Typical measurement tasks:
• Waviness
• Angle
• Step Height and Width
• Roughness
• Flatness
• Topography
Large lenses, lens arrays or micro-optics
The surface quality of an optical lens describes its optical design and considers lens defects such as scratches, chipping, holes, or inclusions that have already penetrated the sub-nanometer range. These can reduce the optical throughput of the system and scatter diffused light.
Whether large lenses, lens arrays or micro-optics, optical systems and their manufacturing processes are becoming increasingly complex.
Typical measurement tasks:
• Top & bottom topography
• Film thickness & layer stacks
• Radius of curvature
• Step height and width
• Defect inspection
• Roughness
Packaging
Packaging that cannot be counterfeited is a proven means of product and brand protection. The surfaces are provided with special features, such as invisible inks. Surface measurement technology provides automation and individual adaptation in the analysis of these structures.
Product counterfeiting is particularly critical in the pharmaceutical sector. The effects of counterfeiting can be hazardous to health or even life-threatening. Therefore, manufacturers are looking for ways to label their original products to protect both their brand and consumers.
The packaging design in the micro or nanometer range is an interesting option for counterfeit protection.
Typical measurement tasks:
• Step Height and Width
• Film thickness & Layer stacks
• Defect inspection
• Roughness
• Topography
