Demonstrators for a Variety of Application Requirements

To protect sensitive electronic components from contaminants seeping in and to ensure safe and reliable operation, the components’ housing must be sealed hermetically. Using a laser source as a tool provides high welding speeds and produces fine welding seams with narrow welding radiuses.

For the safe and reliable operation of sensitive electronic components or assemblies, the components’ housing must be sealed hermetically to protect the microsystem from damage caused by contaminants seeping in. Using lasers for seam formation enables high welding speeds, as well as fine welding seams with narrow welding radiuses.

When laser drilling the smallest high-density holes, many factors such as cone shape control as well as spot size and wavelength of the laser will have an impact on the result. In addition, fast and precise positioning of the workpiece, the laser head and the laser focus height is important.

In the production of chips and microchips, it is necessary to separate the individual dies from the wafer. In this process, quality and precision are crucial for all further post-fab operations. Laser dicing has therefore become the preferred dicing technology.

The processing of high-density structures over large areas such as laser drilling or laser marking of PCBs requires solutions that provide high precision and high throughput. The combination of multi-axis positioning systems with a highly dynamic galvanometer scanner can address the needs of industrial production.

Reducing design and development time is a decisive competitive factor in precision automation. This is why companies striving for optimum performance in areas such as laser processing or metrology should rely on a powerful, well-coordinated system. PI supports this approach with the preconfigured X-417 Integrated Multi-Axis System (IMAS).

Machining platforms for creating tiny geometries in the micron range demand motion systems that provide a consistent, accurate and dynamic processing in multiple dimensions.

Manufacturing chips and microchips involves cutting the wafers, using a process known as wafer dicing, into small square or rectangular “chips” or “die”. Typical challenges to consider in wafer dicing applications are: To position the cut accurately, to minimize the losses of material, and to minimize distortions of the components.

When confronted with health problems, medical technology today makes it possible for implants, for example pacemakers or insulin pumps, to perform important functions. Such implants are highly complex systems consisting of electrical and electronic components. Hermetic sealing, which keeps the microsystem and the surrounding tissue reliably separated from each other, is necessary for safe and...

Lasers are used today in a wide variety of industrial applications in order to further optimize production processes and guarantee high workpiece quality. Laser machining processes can as well be significantly improved by high-frequency oscillation of the laser beam in the XY plane.

PI is currently developing motion solutions for wafer positioning to facilitate the measurement of crucial wafer attributes.

Efficient wafer inspection and metrology are key success factors in semiconductor manufacturing. In addition, they are becoming more demanding, challenging, and costly as feature sizes shrink and design complexity increases.

The entire chip manufacturing process consists of 400 to 800 production steps. At all critical points in the manufacturing process, inspection processes are essential to ensure the high quality and reliability of the final products.

Electronic devices are becoming smaller, more complex, operate in different environments, and include several types of components that require tactile, optical, and electronic testing methods.

Optical inspection is an essential process in industrial quality assurance. Optical inspection systems, which are used in industrial environments, should provide reliable and repeatable measurement results and enable high throughput rates.

Precision positioning is the key element in all types of microscopy. High-resolution microscopy must be capable of accurate and reproducible positioning of imaging elements and samples.

Gyroscopic instruments, i.e. Gyroscopes, can detect and measure a rotary motion or acceleration of the external reference system in relation to the rotating mass. For example, built into theodolites they are used for precise measurements in geodesy, mining, or geology. Due to their properties, gyroscopes are also used for active attitude control in aerospace and marine applications.

Taking sharp pictures despite poor lighting conditions, taking snapshots without blurring, recognizing traffic signs or road markings in driver assistance systems, or identifying dangerous situations in surveillance systems - all of this is possible today with the help of modern cameras. But how good is the still and video image quality of a camera or smartphone?

Fast and reliable measurement of the surface profile of smallest components and features places high demands on the motion and control systems as well as on the sensor technology to ensure that the end products meet the requirements regarding functionality and quality.

Modern passive optical networks (PON) rely on optical components that can split or combine light signals coming from high-power light sources. Replacing active components with passive components provides significant cost savings by eliminating the need to power and service active components in the transmission loop.

The classic application focus of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is the medical field of ophthalmology. However, today, OCT also gets considered for applications in industrial environments such as printed circuit board (PCB) layer diagnostics, and material surface analysis.

The setup for multi-channel automated fiber assembly, based on the proven double-sided F-712.HA2 fiber alignment system and PI´s multi-axis gantry system, offers an idea for further workflow automation.

PI’s optimization technology has proven to dramatically improve production economics in processes as diverse as photonics wafer probing, device packaging, chip testing, and even laser and optical equipment manufacturing. The combination of blazing speed, nanoscale performance, and industrial robustness reduces costs and improves yield worldwide.

Integrating photonic structures or elements such as waveguides, photodiodes, lasers, and multiplexers presents a variety of demanding challenges to test and assembly processes, starting at wafer level through to final packaging.

Silicon photonics plays a crucial role in the advancement of cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computing, nanosatellites, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), or optical logic, as well as in improving data processing, storage, and transmission.

As the global reliance on photonics grows, the industry demands new solutions for testing and assembly. PI provides high-end alignment systems for applications where throughput is key, as well as affordable alignment engines based on modular precision positioning stages.

The S-355 tip/tilt platform is versatile in use thanks to its parallel-kinematic, multi-axis design and its flexure guides, which are free of maintenance, friction, and wear. It allows fast, high-dynamics motion with high precision.

Performing object movements in all six degrees of freedom is necessary in many applications. The compact, parallel-kinematic P-616KLTS NanoCube serves all six degrees of freedom and opens up many new possibilities for the assembly and adjustment of demanding structures.

PI piezo expert and Market Segment Manager MedTech Annemarie Oesterle explains why new and disruptive medical applications are best driven by ultrasonic transducers. Piezoelectric actuators generate HIFU, high-intensity focused ultrasound, enabling contactless treatment and incisionless surgery.

PI piezo expert and Market Segment Manager MedTech Annemarie Oesterle explains why piezo-based ultrasonic transducers are ideal for patient monitoring applications. Flow measurement and air bubble detection, for example in infusion systems, pharmaceutic devices or spirometry, call for compact and extremely durable piezoelectric sensors.

PI piezo expert and Market Segment Manager MedTech Annemarie Oesterle explains why piezo-based ultrasonic transducers are ideal for challenges in IvD and liquid handling processes. Applications such as cell sorting, array spotting, or mixing tasks call for high speed and utmost precision.

PI piezo expert and Head of Sales Dirk Roessger explains why miniaturized piezo elements are ideal for minimally invasive medical appliances. Applications bringing ultrasound to specific areas within the body, e.g. fiber scanning endoscopy, intravascular lithotripsy or therapeutic ultrasound, call for tiniest piezo components to make treatment faster, more powerful and more patient-friendly.