3D optical microscope provides high combined lateral and vertical resolution

Bruker Corp., Billerica, Mass., reports that its Contour Elite 3D optical microscopes provide the high sensitivity and stability necessary for precision 3D surface measurements in applications and environments that are challenging for other metrology systems, such as R&D applications within the semiconductor and MEMS markets.

One Minute Mentor: Radio-Frequency Plasma

Glow-discharge plasma nitriding is carried out in nitrogen-hydrogen atmospheres at pressures in the range of 100 to 1000. At pressures below 10 Pa, the glow-discharge technique is not used, but plasma can still be generated by radio-frequency (RF) excitation, microwave energy, or electrons produced by a heated filament.

NIST awards $12 million to MEP centers in 11 states to support manufacturers

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md., announces that its Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program has awarded a total of nearly $12 million in first-year funding to 11 organizations that will operate MEP centers in Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Wyoming.

Heat treating conference/exhibition in England

The UK’s Contract Heat Treatment Association will again be partnering with the Surface Engineering Association and Wolfson Heat Treatment Centre in co-sponsoring the second “Surface Engineering & Heat Treatment Industry Conference/Exhibition” on October 13.