Novacam Technologies Inc. specializes in designing and manufacturing advanced

metrology Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to standardise units in Fran ...

and imaging systems for industrial and bio-medical applications. Novacam's fiber-based optical profilometers and

Optical Coherence Tomography Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique that uses low-coherence light to capture micrometer-resolution, two- and three-dimensional images from within optical scattering media (e.g., biological tissue). It is used for medical ...

(OCT) systems are based on low coherence interferometry. The

fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate ...

-based nature of Novacam's detector probes is unique in the optical metrology industry. Novacam is a privately owned Canadian company that makes precision optical measuring instruments. It is headquartered in

Dollard-des-Ormeaux Dollard-des-Ormeaux (; commonly referred to as D.D.O. or simply Dollard) is a predominantly English-speaking suburb of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Island of Montreal. The town was named after French martyr Adam ...

(

Greater Montreal Greater Montreal (french: Grand Montréal) is the most populous metropolitan area in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada after Greater Toronto. In 2015, Statistics Canada identified Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) as with a ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

History

Novacam Technologies was founded in 1997. In 2004, Novacam began developing its first Optical Coherence Tomography product line based on advanced patented low coherence interferometry technology. Much of the underlying research was carried out in cooperation with the Industrial Materials Institute (IMI) and the

Institute for Biodiagnostics The National Research Council Institute for Biodiagnostics (NRC-IBD) is a research laboratory located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and operated by the National Research Council. It was established in 1992 to research and develop noninvasive med ...

(IBD), both research laboratories of the

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; french: Conseil national de recherches Canada) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. It is the largest federal research ...

. The resulting commercialized OCT detectors — MicroCam-3DSe
MicroCam-3D
/ref> for industrial applications and dOCTor-8Se
dOCTor-8
/ref> for bio-medical applications — are employed internationally. The initial product line was based on

time-domain Time domain refers to the analysis of mathematical functions, physical signals or time series of economic or environmental data, with respect to time. In the time domain, the signal or function's value is known for all real numbers, for the cas ...

(TD-OCT) technology. The firm has also developed detectors based on

Fourier domain In physics, electronics, control systems engineering, and statistics, the frequency domain refers to the analysis of mathematical functions or signals with respect to frequency, rather than time. Put simply, a time-domain graph shows how a signa ...

- laser swept source (SS-OCT) technology. The detectors are equipped with fiber-based non-contact probes for flexible and adaptable deployment.

Applications

The firm's profilometers are used for

nondestructive testing Nondestructive testing (NDT) is any of a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and technology industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. The terms nondestructive examination (NDE), n ...

metrology involving high-speed and high-precision surface inspection, surface imaging, and characterization,

thick film Thick-film technology is used to produce electronic devices/modules such as surface mount devices modules, hybrid integrated circuits, heating elements, integrated passive devices and sensors. Main manufacturing technique is screen printing (stencil ...

and

thin film A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many ap ...

thickness measurement, long profiles, cross-section imaging, and process control. Being fiber-based, they are able to operate in hostile environments and restricted spaces. The firm's profilometers find applications in the semiconductor and electronics industry, micromachining, aerospace industry, casting, optical industry, plastics and glass industry, and fuel cell metrology. In the biomedical field, their Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) detectors are used for micrometre-precision tissue imaging. in ophthalmology, otology and other precision fields.

Notes

References

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External links

Company website

Fiber-based Profilometers and Their Applications, a presentation

L’industrie québécoise de la photonique: Profil Industriel
Engineering companies of Canada Manufacturing companies of Canada Instrument-making corporations Companies based in Pointe-Claire Companies established in 1997 Technology companies of Canada Canadian brands