LMI Technologies has acquired FocalSpec, an innovative optical metrology company based in Finland that designs and manufactures patented Line Confocal Imaging (LCI) products. LMI’s parent company - The TKH Group - will acquire 100 per cent of the shares of FocalSpec and the company will be integrated into the LMI group of companies and the LCI products will continue to be sold under the FocalSpec product brand.
FocalSpec LCI sensors leverage a unique optical method based on lateral chromatic confocal scanning that is mounted off-axis to simultaneously capture 3D topography (surface geometry), 2D intensity (surface contrast), and 3D tomography (scanning multiple layers beneath a transparent surface) at sampling speeds up to 27M data points per second and a measurement repeatability of 70nm. No other vision solution on the market combines this level of speed, precision and multi-modal, multi-layer imaging capability.
The acquisition of FocalSpec expands LMI Technologies’ smart sensor portfolio of laser profilers and structured light snapshots with patented confocal technologies. Together, its scanning and inspection solutions serve the industry in solving challenging applications across a variety of markets such as consumer electronics (CE), battery, pharma, semiconductor and medical.
“Line confocal sensors offer a leap in technological performance for scanning opaque, transparent and curved materials, such as hybrid glass assemblies common in cell phone manufacturing. By combining this game changing optical approach with our proven Gocator inspection software and volume manufacturing know-how, customers will be able to solve challenging inline metrology applications at a price/performance and ease of use never seen in the market today,” said Terry Arden, CEO, LMI Technologies.
Sauli Törmälä, Chairman of FocalSpec added: “The addition of LCI technology to the 3D product portfolio of LMI Technologies builds a highly complementary set of solutions for metrology applications in critical assembly processes. Along with leading inspection software, we believe FocalSpec and LMI will be a power house of metrology in the years to come and look forward to joining forces."