TechBlog

Motion suit eliminates need for multiple camerasAt the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas, Xsens Technologies B.V. yesterday demonstrated a motion capture suit that eliminates the need for multiple cameras and optical markers.

Known as the Moven motion capture system, the new suit incorporates three Analog Devices gyroscopic sensors, three accelerometers, three magnetometers and an Analog Devices Blackfin digital signal processor (DSP). All of the sensors reside in a small module that measures approximately 2 inches x 1 inch and fits under a motion suit. One suit incorporates 16 of the sensors modules. Using the company’s software, motions are captured and displayed on a PC screen.

“We’re adding software algorithms to handle data from the sensors and apply it to a biomechanical model of a human being,” says Gerben Groothuis, director of marketing and sales for Xsens.

Continue reading ‘Motion Suit Could Simplify Biomechanics Studies’ »

Non Destructive Testing 

Non-destructive testing is a descriptive term used for the examination of materials and components to determine surface and subsurface defects in a way that allows such materials to be examined without changing or destroying their original design or structure.

NDT plays a crucial role in everyday life and is necessary to assure safety and reliability. Typical examples are found in aircraft, motor vehicles, pipelines, vessels, bridges, trains, power stations, refineries and oil platforms which are all inspected using NDT.

NDT is also a quality assurance production and management tool which can give impressive results when used correctly. It requires an understanding of the various methods available, their capabilities and limitations, knowledge of the relevant standards and specifications for performing the tests.

Continue reading ‘What is NDT ?’ »

High-power diode lasers are well known as reliable and economic light sources in various medical, industrial, and scientific applications. Only the higher beam-parameter-product restricts the use of common diode lasers in some fields.Now, LIMO introduces the prototype LIMO25-C10×10-DL980 High-Power Diode Laser. This 25 Watt high power diode laser emits a 10 x 10 mm beam with a currently unrivaled small divergence of only 2 x 2 mrad. The exceptionally low beam-parameter-product of 5 mm mrad yields power densities of 5 MW/cm² in a 25 µm spot. Doubling of the output power is already in progress. Thus, LIMO will soon offer a 50 W high power diode laser unit.

The main areas of application for this high power diode laser are marking, micro material processing, pumping, and microsurgery.

Operation with thermoelectric cooling or simple tap water cooling guarantees high reliability and extended uptime for our high power diode lasers.

Continue reading ‘Marking, Micro Material Processing, Pumping And Microsurgery With Ultra-High-Brightness-Laser’ »

ConnexLink USB stand-alone transceivers can be set up in minutes to virtually cut the cables between USB devices. The flexibility and price (as low as $99 per unit) allow users to quickly upgrade wired terminals to cordless operation in industrial, commercial, even residential applications.

Each unit is small and easily portable for use in mobile and temporary settings as well as for fixed installations. Operational software enables custom configurations based on user needs.

Continue reading ‘ConnexLink USB stand-alone transceivers’ »

Specialised Imaging Ltd. has announced the development of a novel technique that allows engineers, for the first time, to correlate high-speed video data with 3D visualisation and measurement.For high-speed imaging applications such as ballistic trajectory characterisation, space re-entry vehicle development and development of advanced munitions - engineers have traditionally used expensive Doppler radar equipment with sophisticated software, and on-board telemetry. While this methodology has provided useful analytical data it has not allowed visualisation of the processes. The ability to correlate both analytical and visual data over a significant part of an object’s flight, using the new Specialised Imaging Ltd technique, offers engineers a valuable new high-speed imaging tool.

Using a pair of Trajectory Tracker systems, with new flight prediction algorithms, and high-speed video cameras - engineers are now able to capture a sequence of images along an objects flight path and also obtain accurate 3D measurements from those sequences. The Trajectory Tracker, with its flight prediction algorithms, is used to accurately track the object along a large portion of the flight path. This allows a very tight field of view which results in higher accuracy for the 3D analysis. The 3D analysis software allows for the calibration of the system and relating this to the image data streams from the high-speed video camera, produces simultaneous correlated video & measurement data.

Continue reading ‘Specialised Imaging Achieves 3D Visualisation & Measurement Of High-Speed Objects In Flight’ »

Engineers and researchers designing and building new microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) can benefit from a new test method developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to measure a key mechanical property of such systems: elasticity. The new method determines the “Young’s modulus” of thin films not only for MEMS devices but also for semiconductor devices in integrated circuits.

Since 1727, scientists and engineers have used Young’s modulus as a measure of the stiffness of a given material. Defined as the ratio of stress (such as the force per unit area pushing on both ends of a beam) to strain (the amount the beam is deflected), Young’s modulus allows the behavior of a material under load to be calculated. Young’s modulus predicts the length a wire will stretch under tension or the amount of compression that will buckle a thin film. A standard method to determine this important parameter — a necessity to ensure that measurements of Young’s modulus made at different locations are comparable — has eluded those who design, manufacture and test MEMS devices, particularly in the semiconductor industry.

A team at NIST recently led the effort to develop SEMI Standard MS4-1107, “Test Method for Young’s Modulus Measurements of Thin, Reflecting Films Based on the Frequency of Beams in Resonance.” The new standard applies to thin films (such as those found in MEMS materials) that can be imaged using an optical vibrometer or comparable instrument for non-contact measurements of surface motion. In particular, measurements are obtained from resonating beams — comprised of the thin film layer — that oscillate out-of-plane. The frequency at which the maximum amplitude (or velocity) of vibration is achieved is a resonance frequency, which is used to calculate the Young’s modulus of the thin film layer. The group also developed a special Web-based “MEMS calculator”  (http:// www.eeel.nist.gov/812/test-structures/MEMSCalculator.htm) that can be used to determine specific thin film properties from data taken with an optical interferometer.

Continue reading ‘NIST Develops Test Method For Key Micromechanical Property’ »

Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have developed a new “nanobiotechnology” that enables magnetic control of events at the cellular level. They describe the technology, which could lead to finely-tuned but noninvasive treatments for disease, in the January issue of Nature Nanotechnology.

Don Ingber, MD, PhD, and Robert Mannix, PhD, of Children’s program in Vascular Biology, in collaboration with Mara Prentiss, PhD, a physicist at Harvard University, devised a way to get tiny beads — 30 nanometers (billionths of a meter) in diameter — to bind to receptor molecules on the cell surface. When exposed to a magnetic field, the beads themselves become magnets, and pull together through magnetic attraction. This pull drags the cell’s receptors into large clusters, mimicking what happens when drugs or other molecules bind to them. This clustering, in turn, activates the receptors, triggering a cascade of biochemical signals that influence different cell functions.

The technology could lead to non-invasive ways of controlling drug release or physiologic processes such as heart rhythms and muscle contractions, says Ingber, the study’s senior investigator. More importantly, it represents the first time magnetism has been used to harness specific cellular signaling systems normally used by hormones or other natural molecules.

Continue reading ‘An “Attractive” Man-Machine Interface: Researchers Use Magnetic Fields, Rather Than Drugs, To Control Cellular Signaling’ »

Energy-efficient device could quickly detect hazardous chemicals

MIT research scientist Luis Velasquez-Garcia, left, and Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, are developing a tiny sensor that can detect hazardous gases, including biochemical warfare agents. Scaling down gas detectors makes them much easier to use in a real-world environment, where they could be dispersed in a building or outdoor area. Making the devices small also reduces the amount of power they consume and enhances their sensitivity to trace amounts of gases, Akinwande said.

MIT research scientist Luis Velasquez-Garcia, left, and Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, are developing a tiny sensor that can detect hazardous gases, including biochemical warfare agents.

Continue reading ‘MIT Gas Sensor Is Tiny, Quick’ »

The molecular machinery behind gene transcription — the intricate transfer of information from a segment of DNA to a corresponding strand of messenger RNA — isn’t stationed in special “transcription factories” within a cell nucleus, according to Cornell researchers. Instead, the enzyme RNA polymerase II (Pol II) and other key molecules can assemble at the site of an activated gene, regardless of the gene’s position.

The findings, published recently in the journal Molecular Cell, are the result of an ongoing collaboration between the laboratories of John T. Lis, the Barbara McClintock Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, and Watt W. Webb, professor of applied physics and the S.B. Eckert Professor in Engineering. Jie Yao, the paper’s lead author, recently finished his Ph.D. at Cornell under Webb.

Watching genes turn on: Multiphoton microscopy images of living cells show the transcriptional activation of heat shock loci in real time.Using multiphoton microscopy, a technique developed by Webb that allows high-precision 3D imaging in living cells, the researchers observed polytene chromosomes — giant, multistranded chromosomes in the salivary gland tissue of fruit flies that have hundreds of sets of the genome instead of the usual two sets in conventional cells.They activated heat shock genes, which protect cells from sudden rises in temperature, and watched them in real time as they began to be transcribed. The researchers also tagged Pol II with a fluorescent marker to track its movements within the nucleus.

Continue reading ‘Research Sheds Light On The Mechanics Of Gene Transcription’ »

Woodbury, NY — Veeco Instruments Inc., announced the introduction of its new InSight 3D Automated Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) Platform, the only metrology system available with the accuracy and precision required for non-destructive, high resolution three-dimensional (3D) measurements of critical 45nm and 32nm semiconductor features, with the speed to qualify as a true fab tool. Veeco’s InSight 3DAFM was designed specifically to address Critical Dimension (CD), depth and chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) metrology in a production environment.John R. Peeler, Chief Executive Officer of Veeco, commented, “With three times the throughput (30 wafers per hour) and two times the measurement accuracy and precision of our previous AFMs, Veeco’s InSight represents an entirely new approach for semiconductor 3D metrology. It is the only tool on the market today providing in-line, accurate, non-destructive 3D information, to drive shorter process development and manufacturing ramp times, improve our customers’ cost of ownership and decrease their manufacturing risk.”

“At 45nm and below, current in-line metrology techniques are limited in their ability to measure CD,” added Paul Clayton, Vice President, Veeco’s Auto AFM Business Unit. “Technologies such as CD-SEM and scatterometry are precise, but not accurate enough, causing significant measurement issues. Veeco’s InSight provides the lowest measurement uncertainty for CD metrology, which leads to improved process control.”

About InSight 3DAFM
The InSight 3DAFM features a completely new metrology platform designed to meet the stringent requirements of 45 and 32nm semiconductor metrology applications such as CD, sidewall angle and line width roughness on critical layers such as Gate and FinFet structures. The system contains a new high-precision X-Y stage with improved accuracy and a new pattern recognition system with high-precision laser auto-focus capability. In addition, new AFM control techniques and new probe designs enable improved precision, lower cost per measurement site and smaller feature measurement. Finally, system reliability is significantly enhanced to meet the demands of 45nm production-based metrology.