Hexapod Positioning System

Procurement Summary

The Material Measurement laboratory, Materials Measurement Science Division, Nanomechanical Properties Group is constructing a custom Time Domain Thermoreflectance (TDTR) instrument. In TDTR, a pump and a probe laser are concentrically focused on the sample: a modulated, pulsed pump laser heats the sample; and a delayed, pulsed probe beam interrogates the thermal properties of thin film or multilayered materials as a function of the probe delay time. To accomplish this the samples are placed on top of the desired hexapods where they are translated, rotated and tilted. In a thermoreflectance (TR) measurement, the sample of interest is coated with an Au or Al transducer film that has a large coefficient of TR at the probe laser wavelength. The Coefficient of TR is a physical property that relates a material's change in temperature to the resulting change in optical reflectance. In this multiple color system, two separate pump lasers at different wavelengths will be used to selectively measure both Au and Al transducer coated samples. The sample must be translated precisely into the focal plane of the objective (Tz axis), and the tip-tilt (Rx and Ry axis rotation angles) of the sample must also be adjusted to properly reflect the probe beam back through the objective. In addition, translation in the x and y directions is required for 2D property mapping. Hexapods are kinematic devices uniquely capable of simultaneously, precisely, and stably controlling 6 degrees of freedom: Translation in Tx, Ty, and Tx, and Rotation in Rx, Ry, and Rz. Hexapods are also dimensionally more compact than any combination of 6 individual linear and rotary motion stages. The TDTR instrument will enable NIST to uniquely measure the in situ thermal properties of thin film and multilayer materials in wide bandgap power electronics materials, packaging materials, and integrated chip components, directly supporting the "Thermoreflectance Thermal Property Measurements" CHIPS project.

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