Optical components are an essential part of inspection systems and measuring technology. Be it speed, distances, surfaces or structural properties, many parameters can only be determined by optical methods. In semiconductor technology, for example, the inspection of wafers is conducted by means of optical analysis. Special features are searched for, analyzed and registered. The optical components are the key to determining specifications and quality.
The interferometric distance and position measurement can only be realized with optical components. If one takes a closer look at the field of spectrometric measurement technology over the spectral range from UV to IR, it quickly becomes clear how comprehensive it is and how many applications can be assigned to this segment.
The sorting of waste, the determination of biometric data, the analysis of the characteristics of materials: there is almost no area in which optical measurement technology does not play a significant role in the collection and determination of data.
Materion Balzers Optics develops and produces a variety of optical components for these markets, such as longpass and shortpass filters, bandpass filters, polarization dependent components, AR coatings for windows to protect sensor elements under harsh conditions, and solderable gold coatings. We also produce a variety of metal safe coatings for broadband reflectors, or for use as an absorption coating, to avoid the unwanted effects of stray light. Structured processes are just as much a part of the standard program as the necessary back-end processes and sub-assembly (such as separating, marking and bonding) are.
