- Silicon PhotonicsSilicon PhotonicsThanks to the immense transmission capacity and low energy consumption, optical communication is penetrating ever deeper layers of data/communication networks. Servers are increasingly connected via glass fibers, peripherals are starting to leverage photonic cables that combine high capacity and convenient lengths, and soon computers will see internal functionalities transferred to the medium of light in form of integrated photonic circuits (PICs). The important new field of silicon photonics requires that these new components must be tested and assembled with the highest precision since a misalignment would mean lost yield, poor performance or failure.
- Technology of Active AlignmentTechnology of Active AlignmentThe development and manufacturing of photonic devices reminds us in many ways of the early years of the semiconductor industry in the mid-1980s. PI was a young company at the time and already deeply integrated into the production tools being deployed in early fabs around the world. But these tools were usually homemade by in-house or captive local systems integrators. The vast ecosystem of toolmakers that the industry enjoys today had yet to be born. The situation is similar in photonics today: the toolmaker ecosystem is just emerging. While the front-end manufacturing of photonic-enabled wafers can rely on the existing microlithography infrastructure, the industry for the back-end processes is just starting to develop. Some excellent tools and toolmakers have already emerged, and in-house test/assembly machine design remains an option for many silicon photonics device manufacturers.
- The Missing LinkThe Missing LinkAs an example of the fresh innovations emerging for photonics-device assembly, TEGEMA B.V. (NL), the multidisciplinary system integrator, has developed a modular machine platform for the automated assembly of optical components, in particular of photonically integrated circuits (PICs). The system, which works with submicron precision, can grow from tasks in research and development of PICs up to their series production thanks to its intelligent architecture.
- SiPh Wafer ProbingSiPh Wafer ProbingThe integration of photonic structures or elements on a silicon chip presents, already at wafer level, a multitude of new challenges for the testing technology of these elements. In order to transmit the design of the structure, from the concept through its qualification up to series production, a very large amount of performance data of the respective element is required.
- Technology of Active Alignment
- MicroscopyMicroscopyMicroscopy, like no other technology, is constantly expanding our knowledge about what holds the world together at its core, about what the building blocks of life look like. In life sciences, materials research, geology, archeology, mineralogy... again and again, microscopes in the hands of brilliant researches provide the newest findings and so make innovations possible.
- Configure your Microscope StageConfigure your Microscope StageThe precise and fast movement of the sample or the objective play a crucial role for achieving good results when working with light microscopes. The demands on stages and scanners are manifold. In addition to the position resolution, which directly correlates with the optical resolution of the microscope, velocity and dynamics are other elemental requirements for the motion system.
- Open Source Microscopy ProjectsOpen Source Microscopy ProjectsMicroscopy is one of the technologies that is constantly reinventing itself. The first microscopes from the early 17th century were very simple in design, but countless developments have steadily increased their performance.
- Electron MicroscopyElectron MicroscopyApplications for electron microscopy cover a broad spectrum from semiconductor inspection through materials research to molecular biology research. In conventional TEM as well as in the newer Cryo-TEM, which was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2017, the samples have to be nanopositioned with high precision in an XYZ coordinate and then tilted around one axis to produce a certain number of transmission images for image reconstruction.
- Atomic Force MicroscopyAtomic Force MicroscopyAtomic force microscopy supplies researchers and developers extremely high resolution topographical data from a large number of different minerals, polymers, mixtures, composite materials or biological tissue. This technology, developed in the 1980s, enables users to obtain subatomic resolved images of sample surfaces.
- Configure your Microscope Stage
- BiotechnologyBiotechnologyBiotechnology is one of the oldest applied sciences of humanity: Using yeast to bake bread or to ferment fruit to alcohol is, for example, biotechnology that is being practiced and developed for thousands of years. Today, this discipline has countless applications in medicine (red), agriculture (green), and the industry (white).
- Genome SequencingGenome SequencingBlue, brown, or green eyes? Which hair color? Which illnesses may affect us? Whose child am I? All of this information and much more is stored, or at least set, in our genes. In crime novels, but also in real life, genetic analysis is called upon for advice when it comes to finding an answer to the question, "Who did it?". The "genetic fingerprint" has become an often consulted and unmistakable evidence. Last but not least, genome analysis holds the key to groundbreaking discoveries for many health-related questions.
- Genome Sequencing
- Medical DevicesMedical DevicesProgress in medical research, diagnostics, and therapy requires high-performance, precise motion and positioning systems. High positioning precision, compact dimensions, low energy consumption, speed, and absolute reliability are just some of the requirements for the drives in use. However, the applications are so varied as are the technologies and solutions with which PI supports its customers on all levels of value creation: From operation robots through miniature drives for endoscopy cameras to aperture adjustment in radiotherapy or even the precise, targeted positioning of patients on operating tables that can be adjusted in six degrees of freedom.
- EndoscopyEndoscopyModern medical technology focuses on developing therapies that cause as little discomfort to patients as possible. Endoscopes that allow minimally invasive surgery, make an important contribution to this, for example, in laparoscopy. Especially during medical interventions, the demand for focused and detailed image information is of the highest priority in order to achieve the best possible chances of success.
- Surgical Robots: Patient Couch for RadiotherapyPatient Couch for RadiotherapyIn radiotherapy, it is particularly important to ensure that healthy tissues are protected. This is why, it is absolutely necessary to position the patient precisely during radiotherapy. Patient couches that employ hexapods from PI are very well suited for this task.
- Endoscopy
- AstronomyAstronomyEven in the earliest history, humans were incredibly fascinated by space; cave paintings or the Nebra sky disk bear witness of this. The question, "What are those shimmering colors in the night sky?" developed into the question of how galaxies, stars, and planetary systems developed. Highly sensitive systems such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array telescope assembly – in short ALMA – provide the data with which researchers are trying to solve these mysteries – and raise new questions.
- ALMA-ArrayALMA-ArrayA spectacular, albeit essentially impossible image caused a worldwide sensation on April 10, 2019: The first ever "photograph" of a black hole. 55 million light years away at the center of the M87 galaxy. The unbelievably strong gravitational pull means that even light cannot escape. But, thanks to the Event Horizon Telescope - a combination of eight radio telescopes - the participating researchers outsmarted physics to a certain extent and for the first time, created an image of a black hole's shadow. This shadow is cast by the radiation from the distorted light while being irrevocably absorbed by the black hole.
- ALMA-Array
- SemiconductorSemiconductorFor decades, no other product has shaped and changed our lives as much as the omnipresent microchips. Whether computers in all their variants, cell phones and smartphones, game consoles, cars and airplanes, yes, now even the home refrigerator, oven or iron and toaster – nothing works anymore without these jack-of-all-trades made of doped silicon. PI has played a large part in this success story.
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Making Groundbreaking Technology Freely Available.
Microscopy is one of the technologies that is constantly reinventing itself. The first microscopes from the early 17th century were very simple in design, but countless developments have steadily increased their performance. Whether anti-reflection coatings that ensure less scattered light and images with a much higher contrast, new lens materials that reduce color dispersion and allow more complex optics, the groundbreaking theories of Ernst Abbe, who was once the first to calculate how to increase resolution, or the super-resolution techniques for fluorescent samples and lightsheet microscopy with significantly reduced light scattering through the sample. This list could be extended indefinitely and up to now, the innovations in microscopy are the driving force behind new findings in many disciplines.
In addition to further developments by the major instrument manufacturers, it is often the ingenious researchers at universities and institutes who require very special microscope designs for their experiments and build these themselves in their own development. Example for this are the Flamingo Light Sheet Microscope from Huisken Labs at the Morgridge Institute for Research (Madison, WI) or IsoView, also a light sheet microscope - developed by Philip Keller and his research team at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Ashburn (Virginia). The GATTAscope, which uses TIRF technology in conjunction with STORM techniques is also one of those in-house developments. The resulting designs are often shared on the Internet and a global community has developed that uses identical microscopes in order to compare the scientific results of a research group with their own work.
Not only application knowledge and research results but also the details of these setups, including all components used, are exchanged globally in the communities. In addition to information on laser and optic manufacturers, cameras and software the focus is also on positioning systems, their underlying drive technologies and control options. Each experiment makes its own demands on the microscope design and the positioning systems used in it.
Drive Concepts
PI provides a variety of different drive types in order to fulfill the various requirements on travel range, dynamics, precision, size, etc. These can be divided roughly into two classes: Piezo-based drives and electric motors.
Piezo Actuators and Motors
PI uses piezoceramic components developed in-house for its piezo-based drives. These are the fully ceramic isolated PICMA® piezo actuators in the PIFOC objective scanners. The actuators are levered by flexure guides and allow travel ranges of up to 460 µm and new developments will even allow travel ranges of up to 800 µm. Furthermore, they are characterized by a significantly faster response and lifetime than motor drives - up to 100 billion cycles without failure have been proven. The PIHera linear axes based on the same principle are used for example, in the IsoView light sheet microscope for moving the objective. Integrated, capacitive sensors measure with subnanometer resolution without contacting. They offer excellent linearity of motion, long-term stability, and a bandwidth in the kHz range.
PILine® Ultrasonic Motors are also based on piezo technology. They enable linear motion with virtually any travel range and rotary motion. The very flat drives can be easily integrated mechanically and reach a typical maximum velocity of 100 mm/s with a bidirectional position repeatability in the range of ±500 nm. A special feature of these drives is the holding force when at rest and when switched off. A position that has been reached is kept mechanically stable without additional energy and heat input. Applications with a low duty cycle that are battery-powered or heat-sensitive benefit from these characteristics. PI offers several standardized XY stages based on ultrasonic technology. Single-axis linear drives and rotary drives are also available. For example, the U-628 rotation platform plays a central role in the Flamingo light sheet microscope.
Motorized Drives
In the field of electromotive drives, PI offers a large selection of spindle-driven and direct-driven linear stages, as well as servo and stepper motor variants. For example, the compact L-505 linear stage with folded drive is used in the Flamingo LSFM. It is used to move the sample chamber along the optical axis. It serves to create Z-stacks that allow the sample to be displayed in its entirety in three dimensions.
Electromotive linear drives can be stacked if required and can also be combined with goniometers to achieve positioning in several degrees of freedom. The technology portfolio is supplemented by the very dynamic voice coil drives. The latter are used for example, in Z-positioners for travel ranges of several millimeters.
Controller Technology and ID Chip
Together with the mechanical properties of the platform, the possibility of control also plays a decisive role in its use. Controllers developed by PI with SW interfaces to all common development environments enable precise control of the drive - depending on the requirements of the respective experiment. And there's more: Although it is usual that one controller is able to control several axes of motion simultaneously, PI's controllers can also do this across technologies. For example, axes driven by stepper motors and ultrasonic motors can be operated via one controller. This allows coordinated motion and the systems behave much more dynamically. The standardized 'General Command Set' (GCS) that is the same for all PI controllers also supports this. The General Command Set (GCS) ensures maximum compatibility within PI's positioning systems, irrespective of the drive principle in use, and also makes updating and upgrading easier. This makes starting, operating, and programming much easier: Various positioning systems can be operated at the same time and new systems can be integrated with minimal programming effort. GCS also simplifies the development of customer-specific applications considerably.
The ID chip also allows easy use of PI positioners. It stores the calibration data of sensors and actuators. When installing for the first time, the controller reads this data and it is no longer necessary for time-consuming and labor-intensive parameterization by the user.
The Agony of Choice: Which Positioner Suits the Application?
The question which positioning system is suitable for the task at hand cannot be answered in general terms. The following factors are decisive for development:
- What is the travel range?
- How accurate must positioning of the sample or optics be?
- What are my requirements for the dynamics?
- How much space is required or available?
- What other constraints do I have to consider?
For example: Temperature range, atmosphere (pressure, humidity), magnetism...
The wide range of drive technologies and the positioning systems based on them allows PI to find a suitable solution for practically all applications. Specially trained application experts provide support in the selection process.
A Myriad of Application Examples
The example of the rotation platform for the Flamingo light sheet microscope indicates the numerous open source microscopy projects where diverse motion and positioning systems from PI are used. Professor Jan Huisken explains why he has chosen PI for the Flamingo Project: "By partnering with PI, we can make these instruments more precise and use the best micropositioning for these instruments, for these high-resolution microscopes [...]. We have been working with PI for a long time and have been using their stages for just as long [...] and we are very satisfied with their performance and decided to use them in the Flamingo as well." You can find the complete Interview with Professor Huisken here:
In addition to the previously mentioned Flamingo, Iso-View and Gattascope projects, PI systems are also used in the 4PI project of Prof. Joerg Bewersdorf, Yale University, MesoSPIM of PhD Fabian F. Vogt and Prof. Fritjof Helmchen of the University of Zurich, the OpenScopes project at the Imperial College of London as well as in many other projects.
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