The measurement of micro-components is a new metrological challenge in modern production technology. For the assessment of the measuring systems used, PTB has developed micro-artifacts for which – depending on the measuring method – a calibration uncertainty of 0.5 μm has so far been achieved for distances and radii.
Small world: micro-artifacts
- PTB News 2/2006 (148 kB) PTB News 2/2006, English edition, Issue August 2006
Miniaturization in technology leads to components with decreasing size such as e.g. micro-gears and micro-optical components with features smaller than 0.5 mm down to 1 μm. To measure microcomponents today, optical, tactile and x-ray-tomographic micro-sensors are used. Their verification should be carried out in accordance with accepted procedures of coordinate measuring technology (ISO 10360, VDI/VDE 2617). These procedures utilize artifacts. Micro-artifacts with suitable dimensions have so far not been available.
PTB has therefore developed different micro-artifacts which have “cooperative” surfaces for tactile and optical probing or can be measured by x-ray computed tomography due to their volume properties (e.g. x-ray absorption). For the manufacture of these micro-artifacts, different manufacturing processes, such as wire-cut or die-sinking EDM or diamond turning were used. In some cases, the surfaces had to be subsequently structured, e.g. by laser processing, to achieve metrologically suitable surfaces.