Forth Dimension Displays wins $1 Million Order from Nexstar Technology (South Korea)

Posted on by Henning Molsen

Forth Dimension Displays expands its Korean customer base for 3D inspection

Forth Dimension Displays Limited (ForthDD) has secured a $1 million production order from Nexstar Technology Co., Ltd. (Nexstar), headquartered in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The order is to provide Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs) for Nexstar’s new Nexman GENIO series of 3D Automated Optical Inspection (3D AOI) and 3D Solder Paste Inspection (3D SPI) equipment.

ForthDD, a subsidiary of Kopin, is a manufacturer of Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal on Silicon (FLCOS) SLM systems designed specifically for the growing 3D AOI, 3D SPI and 3D Metrology markets. Nexstar is a leading South Korean inspection equipment manufacturer that supplies machinery to East Asian manufacturers of a wide range of electronic products such as printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs), semiconductors, batteries, displays and mobile device components.

Published market research forecasts that the 3D AOI systems market will continue growing by approximately 16% annually from $750M in 2020 to $1.58B in 2025. Factors fueling this growth include increasing demands for higher productivity and quality from EMS companies and the rising demand for 3D AOI systems in the automotive electronics market. Having secured this production order from Nexstar, ForthDD is now supplying its SLMs to three leading South Korean inspection equipment manufacturers who are in mass production.

SLMs are a key component of 3D AOI/SPI equipment. The SLM is used to project structured light onto the PCBAs being measured by the 3D AOI/SPI machine. The ability to use this technology to measure component placement/solder paste in all three dimensions, on every board in real time, enables companies to do 100% inspection of populated PCBAs while also monitoring trends and improving yields which reduces waste and cost. Such advanced equipment is especially important for the growing electric vehicle market. ForthDD’s high resolution, fast switching, all digital FLCOS SLM with a dedicated interface board is the center piece of ForthDD’s products for the 3D AOI market, as exemplified by the SXGA-R12 and the QXGA-R11(-3DM).

Jeong Duck Kim, CEO of Nexstar, said, “ForthDD’s FLCOS SLM technology has a reputation in the market for enabling 3D AOI and SPI machines to deliver fast, reliable and accurate results, and we are excited to be partnering with them on our Nexman GENIO range of products.”

Greg Truman, CEO of ForthDD, said, “We are delighted to be selected to supply the key projection component for Nexstar’s new 3D AOI and SPI products. Winning Nexstar’s business is another vote of confidence in ForthDD by the marketplace. With this news, we are now supplying our high speed, high performance SLMs to three leading Korean 3D inspection equipment manufacturers, in addition to other key manufacturers in China, Japan and Germany.”

Nexstar’s 3D AOI product “Nexman Genios”

Forth Dimension Displays secures $3.4M 2022 Purchase Commitment from JUTZE Intelligence Technology

Posted on by Henning Molsen

Forth Dimension Displays, a subsidiary of Kopin, continues to grow business with Chinese Inspection Equipment Manufacturer Jutze

Forth Dimension Displays Limited (ForthDD), has secured a $3.4 million order commitment from JUTZE Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd. (JUTZE) (Shenzhen Stock Exchange: SHE:300802). The order is to provide Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs) for JUTZE’s Edge series of 3D Automated Optical Inspection (3D AOI) and Mirage series of 3D Solder Paste Inspection (3D SPI) equipment, with expected deliveries through 2022.

ForthDD is a manufacturer of SLMs designed specifically for the 3D SPI, 3D AOI and 3D Metrology markets. JUTZE is a leading Chinese inline inspection equipment manufacturer that supplies equipment to tier one Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) companies providing services to global consumer and automotive brands.

Published market research forecasts that the 3D AOI systems market will continue to grow by approximately 16% annually from $750M in 2020 to $1.58B in 2025. The increasing demand for higher productivity from EMS companies and the rising need for 3D AOI systems in automotive electronics are factors fueling this growth.

SLMs are a key component of 3D AOI/SPI equipment. The SLM is used to project structured light onto the PCA/PCB being measured by the 3D AOI/SPI machine. The ability to use this technology to measure component placement/solder paste in all three dimensions, on every board in real time, enables companies to improve yields and product quality while reducing waste and cost. Such advanced equipment is especially important for the growing electric vehicle market. ForthDD’s SXGA (1280 x 1024) high resolution, fast switching, all digital, high performance, proprietary ferroelectric liquid crystal reflective display is the center piece of ForthDD’s SXGA-R12 SLM product.

Karl Yang, CEO of JUTZE said, “JUTZE has been using ForthDD’s SLMs for a number of years and we feel that it is the most reliable and accurate technology for our inline inspection equipment. ForthDD’s SLMs have undoubtedly played a key role in growing JUTZE’s market share to where it is today.”

Greg Truman, CEO of ForthDD said, “We are supplying SLMs to major vendors of 3D AOI and SPI equipment in Germany, Japan, South Korea and China, with the China market showing the strongest growth over the last few years. JUTZE is a leading 3D AOI manufacturer in China, and their renewed commitment to using ForthDD’s SLMs in their equipment is a strong testament to the performance and reliability of our products.”

About JUTZE Intelligence Technology

JUTZE Intelligence Technology Co. LTD is a subsidiary of JUTZE Group of Suzhou, PRC. JUTZE Intelligence Technology is a professional visual inspection equipment manufacturer. Founded in 2007, and with its innovative vision inspection technology, JUTZE Intelligence Technology soon became one of the industry leaders in the Chinese inspection market. The company’s product range includes AOI (Automated Optical Inspection) and SPI (Solder Paste Inspection) machines for SMT lines, Inline LED inspection equipment and Laser Markers. For more information, please visit JUTZE’s website at http://www.jutze.com.cn/en/.

3i’s new Microscopes use binary SLMs

Posted on by Henning Molsen

Forth Dimension Displays’ LCOS-based Fast Switching Binary Modulators enable new Ultra-Fast, High-Resolution Microscopes

Forth Dimension Displays (ForthDD) and Intelligent Imaging Innovations (3i), a Colorado-based manufacturer of fluorescence microscope systems for biomedical research, expanded their collaboration with the launch of 3i’s Cleared Tissue LightSheet (CTLS) product. CTLS can image whole organs at high speed by illuminating them with structured light using ForthDD’s proprietary high-resolution, fast Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs).

Similar to other fluorescence microscope techniques, CTLS uses laser light to stimulate fluorescence emission from genetically-labelled – or stained – tissue to form an image of the specimen. The Cleared Tissue LightSheet creates a finely focused sheet of light for optical sectioning, then uses ForthDD’s SLM to rapidly shift the thinnest portion of the sheet in synchronization with the microscope and camera resulting in ultra-fast and high-resolution imaging of large specimens. Piezoelectric stages move the specimen in x, y, and z directions with sub-micron precision. The emission from the fluorescent markers in the specimen is recorded by a camera and 3i SlideBook software automatically and precisely reconstructs the biological structure in 3D for further analysis. Hundreds to thousands of images are required to create a 3D image of the tissue sample.

3i also integrates ForthDD’s SLMs into their live cell imaging system Lattice LightSheet (LLS). The SLM is used to create an ultra-thin lattice light sheet which can be quickly adjusted for biological conditions on-the-fly due to the flexibility and speed of ForthDD’s SLM. LLS enables spatiotemporal super-resolution imaging of dynamic cellular processes with ultra-fast capture speeds and high resolution, while limiting laser light damage to the cells. LLS can also be used to perform structured illumination microscopy (SIM), a super-resolution technique that improves the spatial resolution to the low 100’s of nanometers.

“Spatial light modulators provide outstanding value, increasing the speed and resolution of research microscopes,” Brian Bodensteiner, Vice President Development of 3i said, “ForthDD’s SLM technology is designed to allow for the flexibility, performance, and hardware-timing demanded by advanced light microscopy applications.”

Greg Truman, CEO of ForthDD said, “The development of super-resolution techniques has been a remarkable achievement and ForthDD is very pleased that our fast binary SLMs are a key enabler for microscope developers and biologists around the globe. The new microscopes are now being used in the life sciences industry to enhance the understanding of the biological structures. ForthDD is committed to supporting its customers to create their most advanced products.”