Dedicated to serve the optics industry

Boulder Optical Design Inc. is dedicated to serving the optics industry with high-level scientific and technical support in optical physics. We are proud to introduce our optical monitor system, which brings high-accuracy thin film processing to a new level.

Automated surface inspection system

The system inspects optical surfaces for defects. The user loads parts onto a tray, and runs the application. Defects are classified and counted. Here is a bruchure for the automated inspection system that contains more detail and pretty pictures.

The system works to the ISO 10110-7 5/NxA surface specs. It can inspect flat surfaces and spherical surfaces. (Other surface shapes upon requeust.)

The system is designed so that the same tooling that holds parts during thin film deposition can be dropped directly into the system, which usually avoids double handling and extra tooling costs. Whole planets of parts up to 13 inches in diameter can be dropped right in.

Parts, trays, and analysis parameters are defined by text-based xml files. Regions of interest can be specified, both simple and complex.

After the measurement, the user can review defects from a drop-down list (ordered largest first), and another button moves the microscope to the defect for "live" inspection. Here is a short Video Clip that shows this review feature in action.

The system also comes with a separate example utility loads the results and sets up a spread sheet for displaying pass/fail for parts on the tray. This provides pretty formatting and easy customation of the certificates. The example utility comes as a visual studio project that can also be modified in more sophisticated ways, such as interfacing results into a database.

Here are some system specifications. Some are approximate because they are still being measured.

• Range of motion 330 mm x 330 mm (e.g. planets up to 13" diameter).
• Positional accuracy: 0.1 mm. (repeatability somewhat better.)
• Minimum defect size: ISO 0.006 size grade, about 0.6 micron.
• Maximum sag for spherical parts: ~4 mm. (Can be made larger if needed.)
• Speed: Measures a 2 inch part in about 5 minutes.

The development philosophy is to keep costs low where possible, and make sure quality is high where needed. The motorized stage is based on a low-cost 3d printer, which is practically a consumer product. The optics and dark field illumination are high in quality.

We intend to further develop the software, and there will be no charge for software upgrades as they become available.

This system requires less training than other measurement systems that we offer. We would normally include a couple short sessions.