Eddy Current Testing has been mainly used to determine defects of conductive materials and wall thicknesses in heavy industries such as construction or aerospace. Recently, high frequency Eddy Current imaging technology was developed. This enables the acquirement of information of different depth level in conductive thin-film structures by realizing proper standard penetration depth. In this paper, we summarize the state of the art applications focusing on PV industry and extend the analysis implementing achievements by applying spatially resolved Eddy Current Testing. The specific state of frequency and complex phase angle rotation demonstrates diverse defects from front to back side of silicon solar cells and characterizes homogeneity of sheet resistance in Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) layers. In order to verify technical feasibility, measurement results from the Multi Parameter Eddy Current Scanner, MPECS are compared to the results from Electroluminescence.
The developed direct converting X-ray line detectors offer a number of advantages in comparison to other X-ray sensor
concepts. Direct converting X-ray detectors are based on absorption of X-rays in semiconductor material, which leads to
a generation of charge carriers. By applying high bias voltage charge carriers can be separated and with this the arising
current pulse can be assessed by suitable readout integrated circuits (ICs) subsequently. The X-ray absorber itself is
implemented as a diode based on GaAs to use it in the reverse direction. It exhibits low dark currents and can therefore
be used at room temperatures. The GaAs absorber has a structured top electrode designed on variable bonding and high
breakdown voltages.
The implemented GaAs absorber exhibits a pixel size of 100 μm while the readout IC features fast dead-time-free
readout, energy discrimination by two individually adjustable thresholds with 20 bit deep counters and radiation-hard
design on chip level. These properties guarantee the application as fast and thus sensitive line detector for imaging
processes. Another advantage of the imaging line detector is the cascadability of several sensor modules with 1024 pixels
each. This property ensures that the 102.4 mm long sensor modules can be concatenated virtually with arbitrary length
gaplessly. The readout ICs hitting radiation dose can be further minimized by implementing constructive steps to ensure
longer lifetime of the sensor module. Furthermore, first results using the introduced sensor module for solid state X-ray
detection are discussed.
A 5 MHz, 16-element phased array concave ultrasonic probe for non-destructive testing has been designed,
fabricated and tested. To improve the probes performance its curvature, as opposed to present solutions, was
not obtained by adding a corresponding delay wedge, but rather by manufacturing the functional elements (i.e.
active material, matching layer) with a curvature. The piezoelectric material used here was a 1-3 composite
material made of PZT. The finished probe was tested on a steel half circle with the corresponding radius
(100 mm) and on the Olympus PAUT test piece. Good results could be obtained. Three transverse holes with
a diameter of 1 mm and a distance of 5 mm to one another could be detected and resolved.
Carbon fiber based materials are used in many lightweight applications in aeronautical, automotive, machine and civil
engineering application. By the increasing automation in the production process of CFRP laminates a manual optical
inspection of each resin transfer molding (RTM) layer is not practicable. Due to the limitation to surface inspection, the
quality parameters of multilayer 3 dimensional materials cannot be observed by optical systems. The Imaging Eddy-
Current (EC) NDT is the only suitable inspection method for non-resin materials in the textile state that allows an
inspection of surface and hidden layers in parallel. The HF-ECI method has the capability to measure layer
displacements (misaligned angle orientations) and gap sizes in a multilayer carbon fiber structure.
EC technique uses the variation of the electrical conductivity of carbon based materials to obtain material properties.
Beside the determination of textural parameters like layer orientation and gap sizes between rovings, the detection of
foreign polymer particles, fuzzy balls or visualization of undulations can be done by the method.
For all of these typical parameters an imaging classification process chain based on a high resolving directional ECimaging
device named EddyCus® MPECS and a 2D-FFT with adapted preprocessing algorithms are developed.
Aluminum nitride is a promising material for the use as a piezoelectric sensor material for resonance frequencies higher
than 50 MHz and contains the potential for high frequency phased array application in the future. This work represents
the fundamental research on piezoelectric aluminum nitride films with a thickness of up to 10 μm based on a double ring
magnetron sputtering process.
The deposition process of the aluminum nitride thin film layers on silicon substrates was investigated and optimized
regarding their piezoelectric behavior. Therefore a specific test setup and a measuring station were created to
characterize the sensors. Large single element transducers were deposited on silicon substrates with aluminum
electrodes, using different parameters for the magnetron sputter process, like pressure and bias voltage. Afterwards
acoustical measurements were carried out in pulse echo mode up to 500 MHz and the piezoelectric charge constants (d33)
were determined. As a result, two parameter sets were found for the sputtering process to obtain an excellent
piezoelectric charge constant of about 7.2 pC/N maximum.
New processes introduced by nano science into much more conventional industrial applications require fast, robust and
economical reasonable inspection methods for process control and quality assurance. Developed for semiconductor
industries the methods available for thin film characterization and quality control are often complex and require highly
skilled operation personnel. This paper presents a new concept based on high frequency eddy current spectroscopy that
allows reliable and robust thickness measurements of thin conducting films on silicon or insulation substrates with a
thickness resolution of about 2.5 nm. The transmission mode sensor configuration is a more practical method for inlinemonitoring
of thin film characterization. Due to the insensitivity of the transmission mode to dislocations or slight tilting of the sample the high frequency eddy current method is a practical method for thin film characterization in the industrial environment.
Carbon fiber materials become more and more important for many applications. Unlike metal the technological
parameters and certified quality control mechanisms for Raw Carbon Fiber Materials (RCF) have not yet been
developed. There is no efficient and reliable testing system for in-line inspections and consecutive manual inspections of
RCF and post laminated Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP). Based upon the multi-frequency Eddy Current
system developed at Fraunhofer IZFP, structural and hidden defects such as missing carbon fiber bundles, lanes,
suspensions, fringes, missing sewing threads and angle errors can be detected. Using an optimized sensor array and
intelligent image pre-processing algorithms, the complex impedance signal can be allocated to different carbon fiber
layers. This technique enables the detection of defects in depths of up to 5 layers, including the option of free scale
measuring resolution and testing frequency. Appropriate parameter lists for optimal error classifications are available.
The dimensions of the smallest detectable flaws are in the range of a few millimeters. Algorithms and basic Eddy
Current C-Scan processing techniques for carbon fiber material testing are described in this paper.
Carbon fiber materials become more and more important for many applications. Unlike to metal, the technological
parameters and certificated quality control mechanisms have not been developed yet. There is no efficient and reliable
testing system for an inline inspection and a consecutively manual inspection of the Raw Carbon Fiber materials (RCF)
and the post laminated Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP). Based upon the multi-frequency Eddy Current device
developed at Fraunhofer IZFP structural and hidden defects such as missing carbon fiber bundles, lanes, suspensions,
fringes, missing sewing threads and angle errors can be detected. Due to the help of an optimized sensor array and an
intelligent image pre-processing algorithm the complex impedance signal can be allocated to different carbon fiber
layers. This technique enables the possibility to detect defects in the depth up to 5 layers including the option of free
scale resolution and testing frequency. Appropriate parameter lists for an optimal error classification are available. The
dimensions of the smallest detectable defects are in the range of a few millimeters. A prototype of a special single sensor
and an eddy-current sensor array are developed and establish the way to transfer the prototype into an industrial
application.
For near surface characterization a new high frequency eddy current device was been developed. By using a
measurement frequency up to 100 MHz information of near surface areas can be acquired. Depending on the investigated
material high resolution depth profiles can be derived. The obtained data with the new device were compared to those
obtained with a high precision impedance analyser. It could be demonstrated that the new device measures the eddy
current conductivity signal in the high frequencies much better than the impedance analyser. By sweeping the frequency
from 100 kHz up to 100 MHz the technique delivers a depth profile of the electrical conductivity of the material. This
kind of high frequency eddy current technique can be used for quality assurance, surface contamination control or near
surface material characterization e.g. microstructure and cold work influences. It can be a powerful tool to obtain
information for process control or a good / bad decision in mass production processes like for example rolling, coating,
and surface treatments. The big advantage of the high frequency eddy current method is that it is fast und precise. This
paper presents results with a new developed prototype
Eddy-Current-Device for measurement frequencies up to 100
MHz which is first time suitable in rough industrial environment and makes expensive lab network analysers unnecessary
for this kind of investigations.
Advanced Scanning Probe Microscopy techniques combine Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) with ultrasound. Atomic
Force Acoustic Microscopy (AFAM) and Ultrasonic Force Microscopy (UFM) become increasingly powerful tools for
the determination of material properties on nanoscale. AFAM is mainly applied to the analysis of materials with elastic
properties locally varying on micro- and nanoscale. Deformation fields and buried structures can be visualized. In
AFAM, flexural and torsional cantilever vibrations are excited by out-of-plane and in-plane sample surface vibrations.
The ultrasound is transmitted from the sample into the cantilever while forces act between sensor tip and sample. The
sample surface is scanned by the sensor, and an ultrasonic image is acquired simultaneously to the topography image.
The contrast comprehended in the ultrasonic image depends on surface topography and on the local elastic and adhesive
properties of the sample. Voids, inclusions, or cracks, which build up regions of different elastic constants in the interior
of the material, are sensed by the local elastic response of the tip. As a consequence, information on hidden structures
can be derived from the acoustic images. Usually, this subsurface information is overlaid by additional topographic
information, also contained in the ultrasonic image. Here, an AFAM set up is combined with tensile and bending
modules. This approach allows generation of static deformation fields on surfaces and in-situ imaging and analysis of
these fields in the AFM or AFAM. A software module for micro deformation analysis by means of correlation based
algorithms (MicroDAC) is used to determine the local surface deformation quantitatively.
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