A non-contact, multi-channel capacitive measurement system has been launched that offers sub-nanometre resolution, unmatched temperature stability and rapid changeover of sensors without any re-calibration required.
The new capaNCDT 6500 Series from Micro-Epsilon supersedes the company’s existing capaNCDT 600 Series and is available as a benchtop or 19-inch rack-mounted unit. Modular in design, the system can accept up to eight measuring channels to suit individual customer requirements.
Due to its extreme resolution and flexibility, the system is ideal for high-accuracy R&D applications, test laboratories, quality assurance, academic institutions and also semiconductor manufacturing, military, aerospace and defence applications.
The capaNCDT 6500 uses a unique, active-driven, hermetically sealed, triaxial RF cable, in combination with an active guarded three-electrode sensor. The system is therefore electron leakage-proof, creating a protected and homogenous measurement field. This means the user obtains stable, precise, interference-free measurement data.
Chris Jones, managing director at Micro-Epsilon UK, comments: “What it means for users is that they get an almost perfectly linear measurement system that requires no calibration against any conductive material. If a sensor needs replacing, for example due to mechanical damage, or a different measuring range is required, the user simply disconnects the original sensor and connects the new one in a matter of seconds.”
“Laboratories will see time and cost savings from not having to stock different sensor ranges, but also by reducing the time spent re-calibrating sensors to the target material. The resolution of the capaNCDT 6500 is so high that the user could even sacrifice some of this resolution in order to increase the measuring range. If you halve the resolution, which may still give the user sufficient resolution for the application, the measuring range is doubled,” continues Jones.
The capaNCDT 6500 comes with an Ethernet port with 24-bit resolution, so that measured data can be easily output with no loss of performance (error-free) and then shared with other technicians anywhere in the world, using unique IP addresses and Micro-Epsilon’s special data acquisition software (included as standard).
As Jones explains: “One of the difficulties with very high resolution measurements is the transmitting of data via analogue output channels to the user’s own acquisition system. Quite often, signal noise due to cable interconnects and earthing loops, gives a reduced system performance as this is seen on the output signal as noise. By converting internally in the capaNCDT 6500 controller, the analogue signal to a digital Ethernet output. This problem is eliminated and can then be transmitted anywhere in the world to another IP address.”