Webinar Recap: Cable Testing Systems
For over thirty years, Vitrek has been a leading provider of high-quality, multi-functional electrical and high voltage testing equipment. Based in San Diego, CA, Vitrek is an internationally recognized electrical and safety test equipment manufacturer supplying customers in 30 countries. Vitrek designs and manufactures cutting-edge test equipment used in industries such as aerospace, military, medical, automotive, and many more! […]
Laser Scanning Microscope Interface
Laser Scanning Microscope Interface Customer Case This customer needs to interface a scanning laser microscope to their PC so that image data can be acquired and stored. Data is received from the laser microscope via an optical sensor at 1300 line scans per image. Each scan has an 8 ms duration, but 2/3 of that time is scan time and 1/3 is flyback time (dead time). The customer has determined that a 1 us sample width (or faster) would be adequate. There is also a price vs. performance issue - the customer has a tight budget and wants the [...]
Weathering the storm: Keys to resiliency in MRO
Weathering the storm: Keys to resiliency in MRO By Ken Ameika It’s no secret that COVID-19 has adversely affected the airline industry, and consequently the MRO and test cell markets. But the impacts are nuanced. Commercial aircraft utilization is way down; meanwhile, freight carrier business is expanding markedly. Operators are spending less; but they still have needs, which often require quick turnaround. It’s been hard for many. But there’s good news: COVID provided lessons that we can all use to make our businesses, or our careers, more resilient to the next major disruption. Diversify Your Business Commercial passenger traffic—or [...]
Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging (EPRI) Measuring of Tumor Oxygen Levels
Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging (EPRI) Measuring of Tumor Oxygen Levels Customer Case The customer is improving their Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging (EPRI) system that is used for the diagnosis of tumors. Using this non-invasive method, the concentration of oxygen in living tissues can be determined without the need for biopsies. Tumors that have little or no oxygen content (i.e. hypoxia) also have increased resistance to radio-frequency radiation, making it less effective as a choice for cancer treatment. Identifying those patients with hypoxic tumors allow alternative treatments to be used instead. The requirement is to capture the returned RF signals [...]
Capacitance Probes vs. Strain Gauges in Piezo Flexure Stages
Capacitance probes with pico-positioning sensors can be embedded in piezo flexure stages. With minor mounting modifications, these non-contact probes provide significantly greater accuracy than strain gauges. Piezo flexure stages are positioning devices with a high degree of resolution. These motion stages contain a piezoelectric actuator that converts an electrical signal into displacement based on the reverse piezoelectric effect, which is the ability of a piezo electric material to elongate when a voltage is applied. When a voltage (e.g., 0-150 VDC) is applied to the actuator, the stage moves in proportion to the applied voltage. Yet, the exact position remains [...]
Transmission Electron Microscopy for Imaging of Biological Molecules
Transmission Electron Microscopy for Imaging of Biological Molecules Customer Case The customer is improving their customized Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) that is optimized for imaging unstained biological molecules with minimal radiation damage. Diffraction-limited resolution of 0.25 nm is routinely obtained with a cold field-emission electron-gun operating at 40 keV. The sample is maintained at about 123 K (i.e. -150°C), both to eliminate contamination and to reduce mass-loss. The scan raster is 512 x 512 points with a dwell time of 30 microseconds per pixel (over 8.5 seconds per raster-scan). For most mass measurements, the pixels are separated by 1 [...]
Treadmill Power Glitch Monitoring
Treadmill Power Glitch Monitoring Customer Case A customer develops gym equipment such as treadmills. The requirement is for an inexpensive way to monitor voltage signals for long periods of time. The treadmills are controlled by microprocessors that drive the LED displays. The customer has observed that some units intermittently fail during testing, a condition known as a "glitch" or a "brown-out". A glitch can have many causes, one of which is a weak power supply. The customer needs to capture certain key signals when a glitch occurs. At that stage, based on the captured data, it can be determined [...]
Press Release: Vitrek Offers Metrologists Laboratory-Level Accuracy in a Portable, Battery Operated DC Calibrator GalleryPress Release: Vitrek Offers Metrologists Laboratory-Level Accuracy in a Portable, Battery Operated DC Calibrator
Brand-Vitrek, Industry-Compliance Testing, Industry-Manufacturing, Industry-R&D, New & Press Releases, News-Product Updates, News-Products, News-Vitrek, Press Releases-Vitrek, Products-Vitrek-DL Load, z1
Press Release: Vitrek Offers Metrologists Laboratory-Level Accuracy in a Portable, Battery Operated DC Calibrator
Vitrek Offers Metrologists Laboratory-Level Accuracy in a Portable, Battery-Operated DC Calibrator The XiTRON 2000 Series provides flexibility when calibrating thermocouple, pressure, flow and DC voltage instrumentation; portable DC calibrator’s performance rivals costlier devices traditionally used in lab settings […]
CMP and Capacitance-Based Semiconductor Wafer Measurement GalleryCMP and Capacitance-Based Semiconductor Wafer Measurement
Application Notes-MTI, Brand-MTI, Industry-Compliance Testing, Industry-Consumer Products, Industry-Electronics, Industry-Manufacturing, Industry-Semiconductor, Industry-Semiconductor-MTI, Industry-Sensors, Products-MTI-Capacitance, Products-MTI-Semiconductor/Metrology, z1
CMP and Capacitance-Based Semiconductor Wafer Measurement
Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) uses chemical oxidation and mechanical abrasion to selectively remove material from semiconductor wafers in order to achieve very high levels of planarity. The planarity, or flatness, of these wafers is important for optical lithography, a microfabrication technique that produces integrated circuits (ICs) by transferring a geometric pattern from a photomask to a light-sensitive chemical photoresist. Also known as photolithography or UV lithography, optical lithography can produce a geometric pattern on a thin film or directly onto the substrate. Semiconductor Wafer Measurements: Flatness and Shape During optical lithography, variations in wafer flatness must be smaller than [...]
Capacitive Displacement Sensors: Working Principle & Precision Measurement Applications
Capacitive Displacement Sensors: Working Principle & Precision Measurement Applications Capacitive displacement sensors are precision non-contact measurement devices that utilize capacitance changes to determine position, distance, and thickness with exceptional accuracy. These capacitive distance sensors offer superior performance in applications requiring high-resolution measurements, making them essential tools across manufacturing, automation, and research industries. How Capacitive Displacement Sensors Work Capacitive Sensor Working Principle Capacitive displacement sensors operate on the fundamental principle of measuring capacitance variations between two conductive surfaces. The sensor probe acts as one plate of a parallel plate capacitor, while the [...]