Marcus Klein, Senthil Vinodh, SURAGUS GmbH, Dresden, Germany
In the digital age of big data, the decade-old Trillion Sensors Roadmap predicted the generation of bronto-bytes (1000 trillion) of data. True to the expectation, extensive amounts of data are generated, stored, processed and analyzed in this new sensor economy. Likewise, process control and monitoring strategies in industrial manufacturing are now reliant on the information generated by a variety of physical and virtual sensors. One such physical sensor based on eddy current technology enables non-contact, high-speed measurement with excellent repeatability, high sensitivity and abundant data. For high-speed inline processes, the measured data provide insight into thinfilm coating parameters viz., sheet resistance, resistivity, layer thickness, anisotropy etc. Instantaneous data and statistics of the process behavior is often desired in vacuum conditions to increase the throughput and uptime.
Nevertheless, the challenge for vacuum coating line developers and process engineers is the selection of technologies, data architecture, equipment suppliers and the setups of such techniques. This talk provides an overview of parameters for the assessment of such concepts and suggests a procedure for finding the most cost- and performance-effective testing setup for S2S/R2R inline and cluster/ batch tools. Furthermore, it explores challenges and potentials provided by the introduced global technological trends.
Specific examples across various industries and application including hot environments and narrow spaces are included in this paper to explain the capabilities of non-contact, non-destructive eddy current technology for material characterization.