PFI-RP: High-Throughput Scanner for Non-Destructive Manufacturing Inspection

这一创新-研究伙伴关系(PFI-RP)项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是促进先进制造业中非破坏性、工业质量的质量控制工具的发展。为了进一步提高生产效率和降低生产成本，制造厂需要高通量的质量控制系统。此外，由在线质量控制系统提供的有价值的反馈可能使制造过程最优化，以最大限度地减少缺陷，并提供高质量的产品。太赫兹成像为各种工业产品的无损评估提供了独特的功能。太赫兹频率还提供比无线电频率更高的分辨率成像，它们可以在可见光和红外频率下穿透许多不透明材料。与超声成像相比，太赫兹成像不需要任何耦合器，并且可以实现非接触式评估。与X射线不同，太赫兹波也不会对健康造成危害。虽然这些独特的功能早就为人所知，但由于缺乏能够产生高帧频大像素数三维(3D)图像的高性能太赫兹相机，太赫兹质量控制系统在制造工厂中尚未得到广泛应用。拟议的项目旨在通过大学、行业和联邦实验室之间的跨学科研究、教育、开发和商业化合作，解决在高通量制造中使用太赫兹相机的技术限制。这一大学和业界的合作旨在开发和评估一种用于工业生产环境中高速和高灵敏度质量控制的太赫兹相机。该相机利用等离子体纳米天线阵列来解决传统太赫兹探测器在多像素太赫兹成像系统中所面临的主要挑战：低信噪比操作和较小的器件活动面积，这需要将复杂的光学系统扩展到大阵列。拟议的工作可能会扩大太赫兹技术的范围和潜在用途，用于工业制造环境中各种产品的非破坏性质量控制，这在以前是不可能的，因为传统太赫兹扫描仪系统的低吞吐量、低灵敏度和笨重性质。虽然开发的硬件和数据分析软件为非侵入性材料表征和检查提供了高性能、紧凑的扫描仪，但现场测试和合作伙伴关系提供了对真实世界现场设置中的关键客户需求的深入了解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is the advancement of non-destructive, industrial-quality instruments for quality control in advanced manufacturing. There is a demand for high-throughput quality control systems in manufacturing plants to further increase production efficiencies and reduce production costs. In addition, valuable feedback provided by in-line quality control systems may enable optimization of the manufacturing processes to minimize defects and provide high-quality products. Terahertz imaging offers unique functionalities for non-destructive evaluation of various industrial products. Teraherz frequencies also offer higher resolution imaging than radio frequencies and they can penetrate through many opaque materials at visible and infrared frequencies. Compared to ultrasound imaging, terahertz imaging does not require any coupler and can enable a non-contact evaluation. Terahertz waves also do not pose health hazards, unlike X-rays. Although these unique capabilities have been known for a long time, terahertz quality control systems are not yet widely utilized in manufacturing plants due to the absence of high-performance terahertz cameras capable of producing large-pixel-count three-dimensional (3D) images with a high frame rate.The proposed project aims to address the technological limitations of using terehertz cameras in high throughput manufacturing through a cross-disciplinary research, education, development, and commercialization partnership between the university, industry, and federal laboratories. This university-industry partnership seeks to develop and assess a terahertz camera for high-speed and high-sensitivity quality control in industrial production settings. The proposed camera utilizes plasmonic nanoantenna arrays to address the main challenges of conventional terahertz detectors for use in a multi-pixel terahertz imaging systems: low signal-to-noise ratio operation and small device active area, which requires complex optics to be scaled to large arrays. The proposed work may extend the scope and potential uses of terahertz technology for non-destructive quality control of various products in industrial manufacturing settings, which were not possible before due to the low throughput, low sensitivity, and the bulky nature of conventional terahertz scanner systems. While the developed hardware and data analysis software provide a high-performance, compact scanner for non-invasive material characterization and inspection, field tests and partnerships provide a deep understanding of the critical customer needs in real-world field settings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.