3D microscopy for microfabrication quality control

A novel stereo microscope adapter, the SweptVue, has been developed to rapidly perform quantitative 3D microscopy for cost-effective microfabrication quality control. The SweptVue adapter uses the left and right stereo channels of an Olympus SZX7 stereo microscope for sample illumination and detection, respectively. By adjusting the temporal synchronization between the illumination lines projected from a Texas Instruments DLP LightCrafter and the rolling shutter on a Point Grey Flea3 CMOS camera, micrometer-scale depth features can be easily and rapidly measured at up to 5 mu m resolution on a variety of microfabricated samples. In this study, the build performance of an industrial-grade Stratasys Objet500 Connex 3D printer was examined. Ten identical parts were 3D printed with a lateral and depth resolution of 42 mu m and 30 mu m, respectively, using both a rigid and flexible Stratasys PolyJet material. Surface elevation precision and accuracy was examined over multiple regions of interest on plateau and hemispherical surfaces. In general, the dimensions of the examined features were reproducible across the parts built using both materials. However, significant systemic lateral and height build errors were discovered, such as: decreased heights when approaching the edges of plateaus, inaccurate height steps, and poor tolerances on channel width. For 3D printed parts to be used in functional applications requiring micro-scale tolerances, they need to conform to specification. Despite appearing identical, our 3D printed parts were found to have a variety of defects that the SweptVue adapter quickly revealed.