NEWSLETTER N°4
September - October - November 2009

Constantly keeping up its effort in Research and Development, STIL’s team is currently working on tomorrow’s solutions, for their customers who desire to equip themselves with always more innovative products.

So, we are pleased to send you our fourth newsletter, which will inform you about all STIL SA latest news.

Contents :

• STIL’s products at VISION SHOW – PHOTONLINES’ booth # 2N14
  


• The performances of the CCS-PRIMA increased four times!
  


• Inspection of semi-conductors with the new STIL-DUO:
  A breakthrough advance for the control of vias.
  


• Inspection of photovoltaic cells:
  Microtopography and goniophotometry of silicon cells.

STIL’s products at VISION SHOW – PHOTONLINES’ booth # 2N14

6 - 8 october, 2009 in Paris-Nord Villepinte - Halls 1 & 2 - Booth 2N14

STIL will be represented by their distributor PHOTON LINES at the Vision Show Exhibition, the annual meeting for vision’s equipments and solutions that will take place in Paris-Nord Villepinte, from October 6 to 8, 2009.

You will discover on PHOTON LINES’s booth, the MPLS180, the first “line” chromatic confocal sensor in the world. The measurement line is made out of 180 independent measurement points, what ensures the perfect confocality of the system on each point. The MPLS180 is able to measure up to 1800 lines per second, that is to say a “point” measuring rate of 324 kHz. With such a high measurement speed, this equipment is naturally meant for systematic dimension controls on production lines. Scanning mirror integrated into the optical head is an available option. This mirror allows to measure a complete field and to obtain true 3D high precision real-time measurement.

Of course, you could discuss with the PHOTON LINES’team about the enhancements of our extended range of CCS and CHR High Resolution non-contact sensors, as well as of our RUBY non-contact spectrocolorimeter, endowed with exclusive performances.

STIL S.A. and PHOTON LINES collaborate through a distributor agreement on French and British markets. Created in 2001, PHOTON LINES is a distribution and services company in optical instrumentation (non contact measurement, imaging…). The partnership between STIL, world leader for confocal chromatic sensors, and PHOTON LINES’s commercial network, will give users technological excellence and local support.

Real time 3D measurement of electronic board

The performances of the CCS PRIMA increased four times:

As flagship product of STIL’s CCS “point” sensors familly, the CCS PRIMA, is from now on available in a 4 multiplexed channels version under the name of CCS Prima 4. This innovative technology allows the user to instantaneously commute from a measurement performed with one optical pen to another measurement, without any manual operation. The CCS Prima 4 can run up to four input pens. This allows the user, thanks to a fast commutation rate, to enjoy both a multiple measurement range and/or multipoint measurements with a single controller.

Illustration : CCS Prima 4 sensor

The advantages of a multichannels sensor are:

Inspection of semi-conductors with the new STIL-DUO:
A breakthrough in vias inspection.

3D Microtopography : 10µm vias diameter

The great commercial and scientific potential of Through-Silicon Via (TSV) is leading to a continuous increase of this novel technology development and thus is creating a need for non-contact characterization. As via diameter get smaller, their aspect ratio get higher, and as in the same time throughput requirements get more demanding, the number of known non-contact control techniques suitable for this task is greatly reduced.

In order to fulfil this in-situ control requirement, STIL SA proposes the new STIL-DUO sensor implementing a novel type of optical controlling principle, based on the well-known Spectroscopic Analysis of White Light Interferograms (SAWLI).

This new type of sensor allows to measure blind TSV depth with diameter as small as 3 µm and with aspect ratio greater than 10:1. The experimental accuracies and repeatability are in the range of 0.2 µm.

The originality of the STIL method lies in the position of the reference surface, leading to a significant reduction of the impact of vibrations on measurements. As a result the potential subnanometric accuracy of interferometric microscopy is effective.

As this non contact optical method requires no vertical scanning, it is fully compatible with integrated inspection systems. The point sensor configuration enables performing very high speed measurements as a single profile scan across the vias is sufficient to measure their depth. Moreover it leads to a very easy integration thanks to its small optical pen and to its optical fiber link to the opto electronic controller.

STIL has synthetized its experience in non contact measurement sensors to propose at a very attractive price this highly innovative product that is also integrating into the same controller the famous Confocal Chromatic technique. The user is then able to choose the most appropriate technique depending on the application and on the object configuration leading to outstanding measurement possibilities for many micro-optics and micro-electronics applications.

Inspection of photovoltaic cells:
microtopography and goniophotometry of silicon cells.

Today’s craze for renewable energies is boosting several activity sectors, in particular the photovoltaic cells sector. The need for the optimization of the output leads to the selection of the best manufacturing techniques and materials.

The company STIL proposes innovative and high-performance solutions based on new optical principles. These solutions allow the manufacturers both to optimize the design stage – the sensors providing a better knowledge of the physical characteristics – and to improve the monitoring of the production process, thanks to an online control of characteristics that were previously unavailable, except in laboratories.

These abilities have been proved during several partnerships. In collaboration with the renewable energies department of the CSTB (Building Scientific and Technical Center), STIL’s sensors have measured different kinds of complete solar cells: monocrystalline, multicrystalline and amorphous silicon. Prior to that, the sensors had measured non metallic photovoltaic wafers, (with and without non-reflecting treatment) in partnership with the Jerusalem College of Technology.

These measurements have been performed with two different types of instruments:

The aim of the measurement depends on the type of sample:

This study of the interaction between light and material allows the manufacturers to select the best materials and techniques for the manufacturing of solar panels.

The exceptional performances of STIL’s innovative sensors provide an optimum efficiency, in laboratories as well as on production lines.

For an extended knowledge of our full products range, please visit us at www.stilsa.com and download our new e-catalog: here

For any further information, or if you want to ship us samples for measurement, please contact our commercial team:

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