Bruker Nano Surfaces Receives Award for AcuityXR Optical Microscopy Technology

Bruker Nano Surfaces division has declared that the company has been chosen for receiving the R&D 100 award for its AcuityXR enhanced-resolution optical microscopy technology.

This new technology featuring an optical surface profiler mode integrates patent-pending software and hardware to overcome the optical diffraction limit of specific Bruker’s ContourGT three-dimensional optical microscope models in order to deliver lateral resolutions that was not possible before.

Available on the ContourGT-X8, -X3, and -K1 models, AcuityXR is an addition to Bruker’s ContourGT line of non-contact, three-dimensional optical microscopes. In order to improve stability and sensitivity, these systems incorporate patented dual-LED high-brightness illumination with higher vertical resolution. This provides accurate three-dimensional surface metrology in difficult environments and tough applications. ContourGT metrology systems are available in different models ranging from manual bench-top to completely automated, self-calibrating manufacturing floor solutions. These metrology systems combine the industry’s most sophisticated, modular user interface and patent-pending Bruker’s Vision64 analysis and operating software. This combination offers user-level customization abilities for enhancing several applications of the surface profiling metrology.

Robert M. Loiterman, GM and VP of Bruker’s Stylus and Optical Metrology business, stated that ContourGT solutions used with the AcuityXR technology have shown resolutions less than 130 nm in width, which is extraordinary in three-dimensional optical microscopy. By equipping AcuityXR, narrow structures’ dimensional repeatability was found to increase above a factor of five, indicating a real metrology advantage in precise machining, medical, and semiconductor applications, where quicker shrinking of feature sizes is at a pace, in spite of the increase in quality demands, he added.

Mark R. Munch, Bruker Nano Surfaces division’s President, stated that before this year, the systems developed by the company gained seven R&D 100 Awards including three awards for atomic force microscopy and the remaining for optical metrology.