Technical Issues - Intellemetrics Monitor Support

Recently several FilmStar users acquired Intellemetrics Optical Monitors. These instruments (IL550-IL570) are programmed with Intellemetrics FilmMaker software while FilmDirector controls the monitor during deposition. Relieving users of the error-prone tedium of typing layer values into FilmMaker, FilmStar MONITOR (Version 2.52) settings may be imported via CSV files.

The Thick (nm) column (select 'Intellevation' in Setup.. Program Mode) converts design optical or physical thickness to physical thickness in nm on the monitor witness. Thickness values include tooling factors (monitor/substrate ratio) for each material since FilmMaker assumes unity tooling.

The following FilmStar MONITOR BASIC program creates the required CSV file:

' FilmMakerLink.bas for FilmStar MONITOR
' Create Intellemetrics FilmMaker .csv import file
' Copyright 2009-2011 FTG Software Associates

' Specify .csv file In FilmMaker, use File..Import
Const FMExport$ = "C:\Winfilm\FilmMaker\FSImport.csv"

Option Explicit
Sub Main
    Dim i As Integer, kFN As Integer
    kFN = FreeFile
    Open FMExport$ For Output As #kFN
    Print #kFN, "FilmNo,Material,Thickness,ProbeWavelength,GlassNo"
    For i = 1 To NumLayers
        Print #kFN, i;",";WsGetText(i, 4);",";WsGetText(i, 24) _
            ;",";WsGetText(i,5);",";WsGetText(i,2)
    Next i
    Close #kFN
End Sub

The resulting CSV file is as follows:

FilmNo,Material,Thickness,ProbeWavelength,GlassNo
1,TiO2,177.00,650.0,1
2,SiO2,163.46,650.0,1
3,TiO2,139.88,610.0,2
4,SiO2,205.85,610.0,2
5,TiO2,114.98,730.0,3
6,SiO2,173.01,730.0,3
7,TiO2,120.19,750.0,4

Once in FilmMaker, click File.. Import.. Film Stack.. From CSV to transfer the values. Then click the Verify Film button to compute and fill-in remaining values.

Notes: Use 8 characters or less as Film Material name in MONITOR Setup.. Parameters.. Tooling. Use MONITOR to initially select monitor wavelengths and witness distribution. FilmMaker can then be used to verify and modify settings. Europeans need to be sure that "." is set to decimal symbol and "," to list separator. (This is a good idea whenever CSV format is utilized.)

Finally, we point out that FilmStar merely exports values to FilmMaker. Other questions involving FilmMaker operation should be directed to Intellemetrics or to a Thin Film Expert.

Click here for a method for creating FilmMaker material properties (n,k vs wavelength) with FilmStar INDEX.