NanoSuite Software

The Keysight Technologies, Inc. NanoSuite software package offers users of Keysight Nano Indenter G200/G300 and T150 UTM systems a variety of new testing capabilities. We’ve added new functionality to Express Test (our option for ultra-fast testing): batch mode, histogram plotting, and an integrated thin-ilm model which automatically accounts for substrate inluence. New methods are available for measuring time-dependent material properties, including complex modulus of gels and strain-rate sensitivity of thin metallic ilms. NanoSuite also provides a variety of 2D and 3D graphs which can be sent to Microsoft Excel as-is. As in the package’s previous iteration, an intuitive interface allows users to set up and run experiments quickly — changing calculation parameters as often as desired — with just a few clicks. NanoSuite offers support of small force/ displacement measurements, from MEMS testing to tensile experiments, surface topology, polymers, and more. Versatile imaging capabilities, survey scanning, and streamlined test method development help researchers get from testing to results in record time 

 New Features and Benefits 

• Newly integrated tool simpliies determination of indenter area function and load-frame stiffness 
• Exclusive new test methods for complex modulus, substrateindependent properties, and strain-rate sensitivity 
• Standard batch of tests comprising 25 or more samples can be set up in 5 minutes or less 
• Revolutionary Express Test with new batch-mode methods 
• Create 2D and 3D graphs; export to Excel with plotting options intact 
• New file structure organizes samples into projects and sub-projects 
• Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit) compliance for current systems – Convenient PDF printer to replace need for hardware printers  

Powerful New NanoSuite Methods 

Testing procedure and analysis are deined by means of test methods which are relatively independent of the NanoSuite application. This application/method software architecture provides unparalleled access to standard, advanced, and even novel testing. For standard nanoindentation testing with the G200/G300, NanoSuite has a method for testing in compliance with ISO 14577, and the determination of indenter area function has been greatly simpliied, involving just a few mouse clicks. For standard tensile testing, NanoSuite has a method for testing in compliance with ASTM C1557. Our applications engineers keep abreast of developments in material science and testing so that each release of NanoSuite features new and improved test methods. With NanoSuite, new indentation methods measure the complex modulus of polymers, gels, and biological tissue. Also new are indentation methods which measure the creep response (strain-rate sensitivity) of metals, even as thin ilms. Recognizing that our customers use our instruments to push the envelope of materials testing, we make these same method-development tools available to our customers through NanoSuite Explorer and on-line training. With Explorer, the G200 and the T150 become all-purpose tools, able to apply force, measure displacement, and interpret data according the user’s unique speciications.  

New Keysight Express Test 

NanoSuite also enables a totally novel, ultrafast way to conduct high-precision nanomechanical tests. Designed for exclusive use with the Nano Indenter G200, the new Express Test option performs one complete indentation every second, meaning that 100 indentations can be performed at 100 different sites in 100 seconds! Highly versatile, easy-to-use Express Test methods are ideal for applications involving metals, glasses, ceramics, structural polymers, thin ilms, and low-k materials. There is now a new Express Test method for thin ilms that incorporates the thin-ilm model for rapid measurement of substrate-independent Young’s modulus. In order to achieve all of these revolutionary measurements, the G200 must be conigured with a DCM II indentation head, Keysight’s NanoVision stage option, and the new Express Test option. With NanoSuite users can automatically generate histograms and 3D mechanicalproperties maps. Graphs and supporting data are easily exported to Microsoft Excel  

New Batch Testing Capabilities 

NanoSuite lets researchers quickly create new batches of tests for multiple samples. In addition to easily adding, editing, reviewing, or deleting samples, researchers can select a previously run batch of tests as a template for the current run. Utilizing this NanoSuite technique, a standard batch of tests comprising 25 or more samples can be set up in 5 minutes or less. NanoSuite also supports new batch capabilities for Express Test! This new mode lets G200 users, in one batch deinition, prescribe multiple Express Test arrays on multiple samples to run unattended. With the previous version of NanoSuite, users had to utilize Express Test in individual mode and could only prescribe one array at a time. 

 New 2D and 3D Graph Plotting and Exporting 

Two-dimensional graphs can be plotted on the screen in NanoSuite and then exported directly to Microsoft Excel: axis titles, scales, and all. This thoughtful functionality gives users the ability to export the graph they are viewing straight to Excel exactly as it appears on the monitor. 

Versatile Imaging and Survey Scanning NanoSuite provides a wide array of imaging capabilities, including profile cross-sectional imaging, real-time adjustment of scanning parameters, polynomial distortion or leveling correction, plane-it leveling, and a broad color palette. For scanning of areas up to 500 μm x 500 μm, NanoSuite offers a survey scanning option. Flatness of travel is 0.1% per 100 μm. This option is ideal for scratch and wear testing on large samples. It is also very useful for working with large samples that have irregular shapes, large samples composed of heterogeneous materials, and various metals, ceramics, and hard-coated materials.