October_2021_AMP_Digital

1 0 A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | O C T O B E R 2 0 2 1 in SrRuO 3 , are closely related to the magnetic state and may even reorient the material’s magnetic ordering. This opens up a possible avenue for realiz- ing multifunctional devices. According to the researchers, “It may be possible to leverage the magnetic properties and symmetries at the interface and surface to design ultrathin nanode- vices with many degrees of freedom or control parameters, which will be use- ful for applications such as healthcare patches, ultrathin quantum devices, sensors, and more.” www.gist.ac.kr/en/ main.html. SURFACE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM Researchers from the Vienna Uni- versity of Technology in Austria cre- ated a lightweight optical system for 3D inspection of surfaces with micron- scale precision that can operate in the vibration-prone environment of industrial manufacturing plants. The new measurement tool could greatly enhance quality control inspection for high-tech products including semicon- A compact 2D fast steering mirror (FSM) was combined with a high precision 1D confocal chromatic sensor (CCS) to create a lightweight measurement system. Courtesy of Daniel Wertjanz/TUWien. ductor chips, solar panels, and con- sumer electronics such as flat panel televisions. Because vibrations make it difficult to capture precision 3D mea- surements on the production line, sam- ples are periodically taken for analysis in a lab. However, any defective prod- ucts made while waiting for results must be discarded. To create the tool, researchers combined a compact 2D fast steering mirror with a high precision 1D con- focal chromatic sensor. These sensors can precisely measure displacement, distance, and thickness using the same principles as confocal microscopes but in a much smaller package, making them more suitable for the production floor. They also developed a recon- struction process that uses the mea- surement data to create a 3D image of the sample’s surface topography. The 3D measurement system is compact enough to fit on a metrology platform, which serves as connection to a robotic arm and compensates for vibrations between sample andmeasurement sys- tem through active feedback control. The teams’ co-leader Daniel Wert- janz explains, “By manipulating the optical path of the sensor with the fast-steering mirror, the measurement spot is scanned quickly and precisely across the surface area of interest.” The researchers are now working to implement the system on the metrol- ogy platform and incorporate it with a robotic arm. This will allow them to test the feasibility of robot-based precision 3D measurements on freeform surfaces in compromised environments such as an industrial production line. www. tuwien.at/en.