We have developed an automated microinjection system that captures many floating cells and controls capillary positions precisely. To capture many cells simultaneously, we constructed an array of holes on a 10 x 10 mm silicon-based substrate. The hole diameter is 3 μm because our target cells are 10 - 20 μm in diameter. A suction pump connected to the bottom of the multi-hole silicon chip draws the medium into the holes using a slight vacuum, so cells are caught there. Using an initial prototype chip having 121 holes, we captured over 90 cells in a single sweep. Automated microinjection requires precise control of the capillary positions, so images of the capillary and holes on the chip are observed using a microscope with a CCD camera located above the biological medium. The 3D positions of these elements are accurately measured by processing these images. The capillary and the chip are mounted on automatic stages individually controlled with this position data. Using these techniques, this system can microinject about one cell per second. Its success rate for microinjection is 61% for PC12 cells.
We have developed an automated visual inspection technology for hard disk drive head suspensions. It consists of foreign materials detection technique and a precise, high-speed pattern width measurement. High S/N-ratio sensing is necessary for foreign materials detection. We developed a spectral sensing method that senses the reflection of two colors, blue and red, and calculates the reflection coefficients of the colors for every pixel. With this method, the S/N-ratio is enhanced by seven times. A high accuracy is required for measuring pattern widths. The problem is that this must be achieved within an inspection time of 0.4 s/suspension, which conventionally takes several seconds. To obtain a pattern signal at high speeds, suspensions are illuminated with transmitted light and their images are captured with a CCD line sensor. A sub-pixel method that calculates interstitial signal level enables both a high accuracy and high-speed measurement. An automated optical inspection system utilizing these technologies is currently operating in one of Fujitsu's factories. This paper describes this optical system, its measuring procedures, and the measured results of the system.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.