A processing system includes: an irradiation part for irradiating an object with an energy beam; a powder supply part for supplying powder to a melt pool formed by an irradiation of the energy beam; an illumination apparatus for illuminating a position of a solidified part where the melt pool is solidified with a second light having a wavelength different from a wavelength of a first light emitted from the melt pool; an imaging apparatus for optically receive at least a part of the first light and at least a part of a third light from a part of the solidified part that is illuminated with the second light; and a display apparatus for displaying, based on an output of the imaging apparatus, an image related to the melt pool and the solidified part.

A first peel-off layer extending along a side surface of a truncated cone that has a first bottom surface positioned near a face side of a wafer and a second bottom surface positioned within the wafer and smaller in diameter than the first bottom surface, and a second peel-off layer extending along the second bottom surface of the truncated cone are formed in the wafer. Then, external forces are exerted on the wafer thicknesswise of the wafer, thereby dividing the wafer along the first peel-off layer and the second peel-off layer that function as division initiating points.

A method for quality inspection of laser material processing includes performing laser material processing on a workpiece and generating, by a sensor, raw image data of secondary emissions during the laser material processing of the workpiece. The method also includes determining a quality of the laser material processing by analyzing the raw image data of the secondary emissions.

A method and an apparatus for collecting powder samples in real-time in powder bed fusion additive manufacturing may involves an ingester system for in-process collection and characterizations of powder samples. The collection may be performed periodically and uses the results of characterizations for adjustments in the powder bed fusion process. The ingester system of the present disclosure is capable of packaging powder samples collected in real-time into storage containers serving a multitude purposes of audit, process adjustments or actions.

A method of laser machining a workpiece is provided, with a) generation of a machining laser beam and imaging of the machining laser beam on the workpiece with at least one optical element; b) machining of the workpiece with the imaged machining laser beam and generation of a cutting gap in the workpiece; c) monitoring of at least one geometric parameter of the cutting gap during step b); and d) regulating the monitored geometric parameter of the cutting gap during step c) for harmonisation with a target value of the geometric parameter of the cutting gap. Further provided is an apparatus for laser machining a workpiece.

An NC device as a numerical control device controls an additive manufacturing apparatus for producing an object by layering, on a workpiece, a material melted by being irradiated with a beam. The NC device includes: a feature quantity extracting unit that extracts, from image data, a feature quantity for determining a welding state that is a state where a molten material is added to the workpiece; and a process map creating unit that creates a process map in which a shape of the object and a layering condition are associated with each other. The layering condition is selected from among a plurality of layering conditions on the basis of a result of determination of the welding state, and includes at least one of beam intensity and a supply amount of a material.

A method is specified for determining a size of a defect occurring in a surface region of a component while a surface modification process is performed on the surface region. The method includes identifying an occurrence of a defect occurring in a surface region of a component on a basis of a set of images and determining a size of the defect in a separate method step from the occurrence of the defect identified. In addition, an apparatus and a computer program are specified for determining a size of a defect occurring in a surface region of a component while a surface modification process is performed on the surface region.

A detection apparatus according to one aspect of this disclosure includes: two or more housings connectable to each other; a first photodetector connectable to a corresponding one of the two or more housings; and a second photodetector connectable to a corresponding one of the two or more housings. Each of the housings includes a first connecting portion to which the first photodetector is connectable, a second connecting portion to which the second photodetector is connectable, and a third opening facing the first connecting portion. At least one of the housings includes a dichroic mirror placed between a first opening and the third opening. The dichroic mirror allows light having a first wavelength in incident light from the third opening to pass through the dichroic mirror toward the first opening, while the dichroic mirror reflects light having a second wavelength in the incident light toward the second opening.

One aspect is a device for processing a filament in a process stream, including at least one processing beam source, designed and arranged for emitting at least one processing beam which is suitable for processing a segment of the filament by interaction of the at least one processing beam with the segment of the filament, thereby obtaining a processed filament. The device includes a guide, including a filament feed which is arranged upstream of the at least one processing beam source, and is designed to feed the filament from a feed reel. The guide is designed and arranged to guide the filament so that during the processing the segment of the filament inclines an angle with a vertical axis in the range from 0 to 45°.

Wafer alignment with restricted visual access has been disclosed. In an example, a method of processing a substrate for fabricating a solar cell involves supporting the substrate over a stage. The method involves forming a substantially opaque layer over the substrate. The substantially opaque layer at least partially covers edges of the substrate. The method involves performing fit-up of the substantially opaque layer to the substrate. The method involves illuminating the covered edges of the substrate with light transmitted through the stage, and capturing a first image of the covered edges of the substrate based on the light transmitted through the stage. The method further includes determining a first position of the substrate relative to the stage based on the first image of the covered edges. The substrate may be further processed based on the determined first position of the substrate under the substantially opaque layer.