Photo Research has been the leading supplier of light measurement equipment to the display industry for more than 50 years. Our world renowned expertise in display measurement has culminated in the development of an integrated, turnkey FPD Tester, the PR-9000, that combines speed and precision to reduce test times by several hours in both R&D and QC/QA environments.

The Photo Research PR-9000 is a completely automated Flat Panel Display (FPD) Inspection System that offers a fast and reliable solution for FPD manufacturers and their customers to solve brightness and color quality problems. The PR-9000 completely characterizes an FPD over its entire range of viewing angles by performing accurate measurements of luminance, contrast and chromaticity.

Open Architecture guarantees flexibility - The PR-9000 includes world renowned Photo Research photometers and spectroradiometers, a 5-axis positioning stage and Display Under Test (DUT) fixturing mounted on a high quality optical bench.

Three linear stages (X,Y and Z) move the measuring instruments and two rotary stages (q and f) position the DUT. The rotary stages allow rotation and elevation so that the DUT can be tested at a multitude of viewing angles.

A wide range of stage sizes are available depending on the size and weight of the DUT. The unique two-part design of the linear and rotary stages gives the user the flexibility of placing the DUTs in an environmental chamber, while the measuring instruments are positioned outside the chamber.

The DUT fixturing can be custom designed to meet the needs of low volume quality control testing, or high volume 100% manufacturing inspection. It can even be configured for a standard hole pattern mount with mechanically keyed components. The standard fixturing will accommodate a wide variety of FPD and CRT monitors.

Joysticks are used to manually position the 5-axis stage, while video camera feedback allows the user to conveniently and precisely position the measuring instruments in front of the desired area on the DUT.

The PR-9000 incorporates Photo Research instruments of proven quality that deliver exceptional performance for measuring FPD and CRT displays. The instruments incorporate Pritchard spot optics that provide unambiguous alignment on the area being measured. Field coverages start at 0.125 mm permitting measurements of extremely small areas. These instruments are designed for accurate display measurement and feature low errors due to polarization and lens flare.

The fully automated PR-880 colorimeter is already the instrument of choice worldwide for ATE testing of FPDs. It has a highly sensitive Photomultiplier Tube (PMT) detector for fast testing of contrast. Each PR-880 used on PR-9000 systems is supplied with tristimulus filters that are individually matched to the 1931 CIE functions to ensure the best color accuracy possible from a filter colorimeter.

Spectroradiometers have the highest accuracy for color measurements and the portable PR-650 is the ideal instrument for chromaticity testing of FPDs. The newly released PR-705 is a state-of-the-art spectroradiometer with multiple measuring apertures that combines spectroradiometric accuracy, with the sensitivity to measure light levels as low as 0.003 cd/m2.