Application Note: Modernizing a Legacy Military Avionics Test System with a Programmable GaGe High-Speed Digitizer
Introduction Across military and aerospace maintenance operations, many proven test systems remain in service decades after their original deployment. These systems often support critical certification procedures, validated workflows, and platform-specific compliance tests that are costly or impractical to replace. While the airframes and missions may evolve, the test infrastructure built around them often remains indispensable. The challenge arises when key instruments inside those systems become obsolete. Aging oscilloscopes, digitizers, controllers, and interface hardware can create maintenance burdens, calibration issues, and long-term support risks. Replacing them is rarely simple. In regulated or mission-critical environments, a modern instrument must not only [...]
Application Note: Improving Optical Measurements Through High-Speed Data Acquisition
Introduction Advances in optical engineering are driving the need for faster, more accurate data acquisition systems. Whether characterizing laser pulses, measuring fiber optic sensors, or analyzing highspeed optical communications, today’s photonics applications generate electrical signals that demand exceptional sampling performance and timing accuracy. While the optical source may be light, the measurement ultimately depends on capturing an electrical waveform produced by a photodiode or other optical detector. Preserving the integrity of that waveform is critical, as lost detail or timing errors can directly affect measurement accuracy, image quality, or system performance. High-speed PCIe digitizers provide the bandwidth, memory depth, [...]
Whitepaper: Choosing the Right Data Acquisition Architecture for Photonics Applications
Introduction Photonics has become one of the fastest-growing fields in engineering, enabling advances in autonomous vehicles, optical communications, medical imaging, aerospace, semiconductor manufacturing, and quantum technologies. As these systems continue to evolve, engineers are challenged to capture increasingly complex optical signals while maintaining exceptional measurement accuracy, repeatability, and timing precision. At the heart of every optical measurement system is a detector that converts light into an electrical signal. The quality of the resulting data depends not only on the detector itself, but also on the architecture used to acquire, process, and analyze that signal. Selecting the appropriate data acquisition [...]
Application Note: Wafer & Thin-Film Stress Characterization Using the Proforma 300iSA
Introduction Thin films are essential to modern semiconductor devices, but every deposited, grown, bonded, or processed layer can introduce mechanical stress into the wafer. When that stress becomes excessive or inconsistent, the effects can extend well beyond the deposition step—contributing to wafer bow, cracking, delamination, overlay error, handling problems, yield loss, and downstream process instability. The MTI Instruments Proforma™ 300iSA semi-automated metrology system provides the full-wafer thickness and shape data needed to evaluate these risks. By measuring wafer geometry before and after a process step, engineers can quantify curvature change and use established film-stress relationships to calculate and trend [...]
Engine Balancing in the Digital Age: Unlocking Faster, Smarter MRO with Integrated Aircraft Data
Introduction Modern aircraft engines generate vast amounts of operational data, yet much of this information has historically remained under utilized during maintenance procedures like vibration balancing. As fleets transition to digitally connected avionics architectures, MRO teams are rethinking how they access and apply engine data to improve efficiency and accuracy. By leveraging direct integration with onboard data networks, today’s vibration balancing systems can streamline setup, reduce dependency on external instrumentation, and deliver faster, more reliable results—ultimately helping operators minimize downtime and maintain peak engine performance. The Role of Engine Vibration Balancing MRO Jet engines operate under extreme mechanical stress, [...]
Brake Rotors
Industry Automotive Applications Brake Rotors Measurement Type Surface Description Under normal operating conditions brake rotors are subjected to extreme temperatures and forces, which can cause rotor distortion and potential failure. To make certain it can withstand these conditions; extensive laboratory testing is performed to optimize design for longevity, short stopping distance, and vibration free operation. Extensive on-vehicle testing is done under real life conditions to test prototype units and engineering designs. Test vehicles are driven for long periods of time while brake performance is monitored by a variety of sensors [...]
Understanding Semiconductor Wafer Stress: A Practical Guide to Thin-Film Stress, Wafer Curvature Measurement & Process Control
Introduction Every semiconductor device begins with a nearly perfect wafer. Yet throughout fabrication, that wafer is repeatedly transformed by dozens of manufacturing processes including thin-film deposition, oxidation, implantation, annealing, polishing, and packaging. While each process is designed to modify the electrical properties of the device, it also alters something far less visible—its mechanical condition. The addition of every thin film introduces internal mechanical forces that can subtly change the shape of the wafer. These changes, often measured in only a few micrometers across a 200 mm or 300 mm substrate, may appear insignificant. However, as semiconductor devices continue to [...]
GLASS THICKNESS
Industry Consumer Electronics Applications Glass Thickness Measurement Type Thickness Description Did you know that glass thickness can be measured with a capacitance probe? You will need some equipment: Digital Accumeasure D200 ASP-2500-CTA Dielectric probe (The capacitance probe has a sensing area of 11.25 mm) Range extension = 3X, 10Hz filter Introduction: An industrial glass fabricator needed a way to determine the thickness of glass, before cutting it to shape and coating it. The glass sample was marked with indices to find the measuring points. The sample center point -5- thickness was checked [...]
HEIGHT GAP OF INKJET PRINTERS
Industry Consumer Electronics Applications Height Gap Of Inkjet Printers Measurement Type Positioning Description Introduction: Inkjet printers require a certain distance between the inkjet print head and the paper. If the distance is set incorrectly, the printed images get blurry. Current state of the art printers have the print head nozzles built right into the bottom of the ink reservoir (B) as shown below. When the ink cartridge is installed in the printer, the inkjet nozzles (made out of silicon) essentially become a grounded target through the connections shown at [...]
Whitepaper: Oscilloscopes vs Digitizers: Choosing the Right Platform for Wideband Signal Acquisition
Introduction As signal environments become faster, more complex, and more data-intensive, engineers need acquisition tools that match the demands of modern testing. Whether validating next-generation communications systems, capturing radar pulses, analyzing ultrasound returns, or troubleshooting electronics, the quality of captured data directly impacts design confidence and test accuracy. Two of the most common signal acquisition platforms are oscilloscopes and digitizers. While both sample electrical signals and convert them into digital data, they are designed for different workflows. Oscilloscopes excel in interactive debugging and real-time waveform visualization. Digitizers are optimized for sustained acquisition, deep memory capture, system integration, and high-performance [...]