Digital I/O ASIC Testing
Digital I/O ASIC Testing Customer Case A customer needs to generate stimulus to test his Application Specific Integrated Circuits and to capture response from that ASIC. The stimulus definition exists as an ASCII file with rows and columns of 1s and 0s. Each column corresponds to a different input pin of the ASIC and each rows corresponds to a different time tic (every 50 nanoseconds). The controlling baud clock runs at 10 MHz. The requirement is to record the digital response from the separate output pins of the ASIC as another ASCII file of 1s and 0s. Again, every [...]
Capacitance Sensors vs. Eddy Current Sensors Application Note
Capacitance Sensors vs. Eddy Current Sensors Application Note Capacitance sensors and Eddy current sensors are both used for non-contact measurements. Capacitive probes use electric fields to measure the distance from the sensor face to the surface of a target that is typically conductive and grounded. Eddy current probes use an alternating AC current to induce a magnetic field in a conductive target instead. In turn, the induced magnetic field produces a back magnetic field that is proportional to the gap between the probe face and the target. In a recent application note, MTI Instruments examines the differences between capacitance [...]
Modernizing a Passive Sonar that has a Beam-Former with Digital Output
Modernizing a Passive Sonar that has a Beam-Former with Digital Output Customer Case The customer's requirement is to capture 10 signals, lasting 0.6 milliseconds each. 120 such signals arrive sequentially from a multiplexer within a beam-former. The clock rate is 2 MHz. The beam-former creates 120 beams and the raw digital data (underwater acoustic signal) from each beam is present at the output port of beam-former with a clock rate of 2 Mhz. At a certain time, we get the digital raw data of one beam. We plan to get 120 x 10 12-bit data records. That is, we [...]
Neutrinos Study
Neutrinos Study Customer Case Neutrinos are said to be the most elusive and exotic particles in the universe. They are tiny neutral elementary particles that interact with matter via the weak nuclear force. Scientists are still trying to measure the mass and to characterize their properties. A customer who is studying neutrinos will be using photo multiplier tubes (PMT) coupled to a scintillating material to detect them. The PMT will produce a small electrical pulse when a neutrino is detected. These PMTs are located 2 Kilometers deep, in a mine located in Ontario, Canada. The customer is looking for [...]
Synchronizing Over A Wide Sampling Speed Range
Synchronizing Over A Wide Sampling Speed Range Customer Case The client has set up an experiment where he needs to generate a stimulus signal and apply it to a He-Ne Laser with some polarizing optics. The response signal is a measurement of the Faraday effect. The signal is noisy and requires averaging over a very long time. The stimulus and response must be synchronized over a wide frequency range. For synchronization, the application requires a wide band of sampling speed from, 1 KS/s to 50 MS/s. GaGe Case Solution While GaGe's CompuScope 14100 provides the required digitizer performance, it [...]
White Paper: Hipot Testing of Military/Aerospace Interconnect Components
Introduction Operational performance and safety are paramount concerns when determining the acceptability of a range of interconnection products in military and aerospace applications. Connectors and relays, wires, wire bundled into cables and harnesses, all must be tested against stringent standards. The number and range of these standards is mind-numbing — and this paper makes no attempt to catalog them all. Rather, notable and salient MIL standards and similar aerospace standards will be used to site the key role that high-performance electrical safety testers, ancillary equipment and software play in effecting reliable and cost-effective compliance testing of components as [...]
Time Resolved Spectroscopy of Protein Crystals
Time Resolved Spectroscopy of Protein Crystals Customer Case The customer is involved in Time Resolved Spectroscopy of protein crystals. This involves shooting a laser onto the protein crystals and measuring the pulses generated by the crystals (as they are projected out of the sample) and their decay over time. Due to the very noisy nature of the return signals, it is essential to average many pulses in order to recover the pulse shape and measure the decay. The decay takes place over many tens of milliseconds, so it is necessary to acquire very long records (in the order of [...]
Using Capacitance Sensors for Non-Conductive Material Measurement GalleryUsing Capacitance Sensors for Non-Conductive Material Measurement
Application Notes-MTI, Brand-MTI, Industry-Compliance Testing, Industry-Consumer Products, Industry-Electronics, Industry-Manufacturing, Industry-Sensors, News-MTI, News-MTI-Instrumentation, Products-MTI-Capacitance, Z-REPUB, z1
Using Capacitance Sensors for Non-Conductive Material Measurement
Non-Conductive Material Measurement with Capacitance Sensors Capacitance sensors are non-contact devices that can be used to obtain position, thickness, and dynamic measurements with a high degree of precision, accuracy, and resolution. Capacitive measurement is used with electrically-conductive materials such as metals but can also be used to measure non-conductive materials such as glass, sapphire, and many plastics. Even if a non-conductive material is relatively inexpensive (such as closed cell foam), manufacturers want to avoid errors that can result in significant waste across high volumes. Importantly, capacitance measurement is also used with semi-insulating materials such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) and [...]
Semiconductor Wafer Lapping and Displacement Measurement
Semiconductor Wafer Lapping and Displacement Measurement Semiconductor Semiconductor Wafer Manufacturing Displacement Description Semiconductor Wafer Lapping and Displacement Measurement This application note explains how MTI’s Accumeasure technology was used with a lapping machine to measure displacement (wafer material removal) and determine the new semiconductor wafer thickness. Changes in electrical capacitance (displacement) were measured and then directly converted into a 24-bit digital reading to obtain precise digital thickness measurements. During lapping, a wafer of known start thickness is placed on a rotary lapping table. The backside of the wafer faces downward and toward [...]
Hyper Remote Laser Sensor
Hyper Remote Laser Sensor Customer Case The customer is at the prototype stage for building a hyper remote sensor which will fly over the ocean and be able to see 100 to 200 feet below the surface. The sensor is being designed in order to determine the composition of the ocean and the ocean floor. This remote sensor will be extremely useful in the detection of pollution and studying the way pollution is being distributed by ocean currents. It will also be useful to the military (navy) for creating mine-finding systems. A deep blue laser will be used to [...]