Fluid Jet polishing has enabled LightMachinery to produce large surfaces with less than 10nm of rms surface variation and thickness uniformity. These techniques can be applied to a wide variety of optical and semiconductor materials including Fused Silica, BK7, Silicon, Silicon on Insulator, SOI, Germanium, Zinc Selenide, Calcium Fluoride and Magnesium Fluoride.
Conventional polishing relies on controlling the shape of a polishing lab to adjust the entire surface of an optical element. In the hands of one of LightMachinery's master polishers, conventional hand polishing can achieve remarkable results but it has limitations. Conventional polishing can only adjust the basic parameters of wedge, sphere and astigmatism.
Fluid jet polishing utilizes a small computer controlled polishing tool that removes material in a very slow but predictable pattern. Advanced software developed by LightMachinery enables the correction of wavefront errors to remove nanometers of material and achieve surfaces that are very close to perfect. Fluid jet polishing is enabling optical, nanostructural, microfluidics, Silicon on Insulator (SOI), MEMS, and semiconductor projects that were previously considered to be impossible.
If your application requires truly flat smooth surfaces, uniform thickness or surfaces with arbitrary aspheric shapes then contact our staff to discuss your needs.
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Conventional Flatness λ/10
Shown here a conventionally polished fused silica substrate. The wedge in the part is very good, about 50nm, less than lambda/10 |
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Fluid Jet Polished Flatness λ/100
After processing half of the part with fluid jet polishing. The surface flatness is reduced about 6nm peak to valley or lambda/100. |
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Atomic force microscope analysis of a conventionally polished fused silica surface. The size of the area is 1.5 x 2.5 microns. Surface roughness is 1nm Rms |
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Atomic force microscope analysis of a fluid jet polished fused silica surface. The size of the area is 1.5 x 2.5 microns. Surface roughness is 1nm Rms |
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Our catalog of standard ultra-uniform thickness wafers and substrates has material from 250um to 20mm thick. Our catalog really only offers a sample of capability, please contact us regarding your particular needs. |
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Please do not hesitate to inquire about special materials or sizes, just contact us for a quotation . |
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