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Coating Thickness and Multilayer Film Thickness

Low coherence profilometers deliver non-contact thickness measurements and cross-section imaging of translucent coatings or films from 10 µm to several millimeters thick with a precision better than 1 µm. Whether the scanned films are single layer or multilayer, thickness measurements are obtained simultaneously and at high speed on all individual substrate layers.

Novacam's low coherence profilometers measure coating or film thickness in numerous high technology domains. Application fields include:

• Semi-conductors: coating on MEMS devices, semiconductors, hybrid circuits, fuel and solar cells.
• Aviation and automotive: protective films.
• Optical: etching and deposition thickness on waveguides.
• Bio-medical: coatings which protect devices from corrosion, or patients from complications.
• Electronics: thick film photoresist coating on electronic wafers(Figure 1).
• Many others: conformal coating, protective tool coating, vacuum coating.

Unlike traditional microscope-like instruments, Novacam's profilometers obtain measurements via fiber-based probes deployable at a distance from the profilometer enclosure, without signal degradation. These probes allow for:

• Flexible in-process set up.
• Thickness measurements right at the point of production or at coating time.
• Instant process feedback.

Providing additional ROI, several probes can be multiplexed to a single profilometer for simultaneous thickness measurements on different aspects of a production line. For instance, a multiplexed probe configuration is useful for quality inspection at the exit of a high-grade plastic catheter tube extruder. As it is being extruded, the small-aperture catheter tube (a multi-layer semi-translucent object) is scanned from two angles by two probes positioned at 90° to each. The scanned thickness data permits the application software to construct an optical cross-section image (Figure 2) and to calculate the inside and outside radii and wall thicknesses of the catheter tube, all in real-time.

• For more details and application examples, see application note, Coating Thickness and Multilayer Film Thickness Measurements.... [PDF, ? MB].
• For our products, see Novacam's profilometers.

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