An automation software for FormFactor Cascade Summit200 Probe Stations. FlexSensor is a software that automates measurements using the FormFactor Wafer Prober.
FlexSensor is a standalone Python application. Its versatility allows for immediate deployment without prior programming knowledge. Particularly noteworthy are its post-processing capabilities, however, the software's core functionality is the use of the automated measurement routine to acquire the resonant spectra of photonic devices integrated within a specialized measurement system, as detailed in Section
This work introduces the automation measurement software FlexSensor for capturing resonant spectra, an innovative and extensible software program developed explicitly for measuring and evaluating wafer-level Silicon Photonics (SiPh) circuits. Wafer-level SiPh allows the integration of numerous optical components and structures on a single wafer. However, researchers and engineers need precise and repeatable measurements to characterize them and face significant challenges when dealing with large numbers of complex systems on a single wafer. A toolchain gap hampers the measuring of such highly integrated photonic structures: While the setup necessitates the integration of an optimized hardware and software toolchain, there is neither software nor a standardized way to implement a reproducible measurement routine for a massive set of measurements.
FlexSensor allows integration and control of external hardware (tunable lasers, analog-digital converters) and supports measurement data storage and evaluation. The software enables researchers and engineers to efficiently analyze the spectral response of photonic structures and facilitate rapid measuring.
This software depends on several sub-projects and serves as the control unit.
This repository is under construction. The software is ready for deployment but is still in beta. If you find any bugs or have any suggestions, please open an issue.
Clone the repository [email protected]:flexsensor-public/flexsensor.git to your local machine.
git clone https://github.com/agentsmith29/flexsensor.gitCreate a virtual environment (highly recommended) and install the dependencies.
python -m venv .venv;
source .venv/Scripts/Activate;
pip install -r requirements.txtTo start the software, run the ./examples/main.py file.
python main.pyThe measurement routine is defined in a Python file (e.g., ./examples/MeasurementRoutine.py). Each measurement routine must be inherited from BaseMeasurementRoutine class.
Note that the base class has an overloaded constructor that requires the following parameters:
prober: The Prober.Controller object that is used to measure the structuresconfig: The FlexSensorConfig object that is used to measure the structures
import FlexSensor as fs
class MeasurementRoutine(fs.BaseMeasurementRoutine):
def __init__(prober: Prober.Controller,
config: fs.FlexSensorConfig):
super().__init__(prober, config)
@Slot()
def run(self):
# your code hereIn the run method, the measurement routine is defined.
The run method is called by the MeasurementRoutineThread class, which is a QThread object. This allows to run the method
in a separate thread, while the GUI remains responsive.
It is often useful to measure a large number of structures on a wafer. For this, the software allows to define a
measurement routine that is executed for each structure.
The vas-File allows to define a list of structures that are measured. Thede file is parsed and passed
to the MeasurementRoutine class.
import FlexSensor as fs
# ...
def readVasFile(self):
self.parsed_file = fs.VASInputFileParser()
selected_file, self.grouped_structures, self.bookmarks = self.parsed_file.read_file(
input_file='structure_file.vas'
)
# ...The VASInputFileParser class parses the vas-File and returns a list of structures that are measured.
selected_file: The selected file. In case the file is not found, the user is prompted to select a file by a file dialog.grouped_structures: A list of structures that are measured. Each structure is a python dictionary that contains the information on how to measure the structure.bookmarks: A list of bookmarks that are defined in thevas-File. These bookmarks are used to create a Klayout bookmark file that can be used to navigate to the structures in Klayout.
The measuring process relies on a vas-File that store the positions to the structures. in priciple
this file os a list of python dictionary in a predefined format, that allows the easy definiton
on how to measure the structures.
The file allows python-style line comments using the #-sign
# First structure to measure
# group="mrr1"Sometimes it is useful to have the Klayout-positions bookmarked. Using the Klayout-Coordinates, the software creates a readable Bookmark file that can be used in Klayout.
# Bookmark this view
mrr1_bookmark = { 'x_left': 19012, 'x_right' : 20708, 'y_bottom' : 20185, 'y_top': 21866 }Defining a measurement point requires the input position (x_in, y_in) and the output
position (x_out, y_out). The keyword repetitions allows to define the number of repeated measurements of the same
structure (e.g., for statistical evaluation, etc.)
These positions are relative and measured from a predefined point (See Sec ...) on how
to select this point which can be chosen arbitrarily.
mrr1_ref = {'y_in' : -2120, 'x_in' : 960, 'y_out' : -2120, 'x_out' : -155, 'repetitions': 2}Sometimes it is useful to define a group of measurement points that are equally spaced in x-direction. For this, the
spacing and num-keyword can be used. Using these values, the software will automatically generate a list of
num structures, equally spaced in x-direction using the spacing value.
mrr1 = {'y_in' : -1845, 'x_in' : 960, 'y_out' : -2015, 'x_out' : -155, 'num' : 6, 'spacing' : 100, 'repetitons': 200}- Open the correct wafer map.
Open the wafer Map under Velox -> WaferMap. Load the correct wafer file and select or deselect dies you do not
want to capture.
Note: Make sure that the die and wafer size is correct. - Auto-Align the Wafer
For this open the "AutoAlign" Wizard and find a suitable alignment structure.
- Place at "your" origin
The structure file relies on "relative" positions to a point you
find a suitable structur which is defined as the "die" origin. This is used to measure the distance to the to/be measured strcutures. Use the same mark in zour Klayout file and on the wafer.
If you have not yet created a list for measuring your structure, you can use
- the wafer prober find the right coordinates.
- the KLayout-File for measuring the structures
- Set contact height Set our fiber to the correct height. Then use the "Set Contact height". Otherwise the measurement routine will fail!
- Train the Home Positions This step is crucial and needed to train the output positions.
This software is licensed under the GNU GPL v3. If you use this software for your work or in your papers, please cite the following:
This project is part of the Software FlexSensor, which has been published under DOI https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4828876.
Example citing (IEEE):
[1] C. Schmidt, J. W. Hinum-Wagner, R. Klambauer, and A. Bergmann, “FlexSensor: Automated measurement software for rapid photonic circuits capturing,” SoftwareX, vol. 27, p. 101879, 2024, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2024.101879.
or using a BiBTex
@article{SCHMIDT2024101879,
title = {FlexSensor: Automated measurement software for rapid photonic circuits capturing},
journal = {SoftwareX},
volume = {27},
pages = {101879},
year = {2024},
issn = {2352-7110},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2024.101879},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352711024002498},
author = {Christoph Schmidt and Jakob Wilhelm Hinum-Wagner and Reinhard Klambauer and Alexander Bergmann},
keywords = {Silicon photonics, Wafer-level measurements, Measurement automation, Graphical user interface},
abstract = {This paper introduces the automation measurement software FlexSensor for capturing resonant spectra, an innovative and extensible software program developed explicitly for measuring and evaluating wafer-level Silicon Photonic (SiPh) circuits. Wafer-level Silicon Photonics allows the integration of numerous optical components and structures on a single wafer. However, researchers and engineers need precise and repeatable measurements to characterize them and face significant challenges when dealing with large numbers of complex systems on a single wafer. A toolchain gap hampers the measuring of such highly integrated photonic structures: While the setup necessitates the integration of an optimized hardware and software toolchain, there is neither software nor a standardized way to implement a reproducible measurement routine for a massive set of measurements. FlexSensor allows integration and control of external hardware (tunable lasers, analog–digital converters) and supports measurement data storage and evaluation. The software enables researchers and engineers to efficiently analyze the spectral response of photonic structures and facilitate rapid measuring.}
}This section should cover the issues that may occur during usage or development.
There are some combinations of pyside6 and pyqtgraph that may lead to incompatibility
issues. Especially PySide 6.5.0 and pyqtgraph 0.13.2 installation lead to
TypeError: GraphicsWidgetAnchor.__init__() takes 1 positional argument but 2 were givenSolution: Remove your current installed pyqtgraph and install the latest version:
pip install git+https://github.com/pyqtgraph/pyqtgraph@master