Method and device for measuring the depths of bottoms of craters in a physico-chemical analyzer
US6259530A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 10, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jul 10, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 10, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01B11/22
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Disclosed is a method for measuring the depth of the bottoms of craters under formation on a sample placed within an analysis chamber of a physico-chemical analyzer, by optical interferometry. The method consists in splitting an incident bi-frequency laser beam into two parallel paths, a measurement path and a reference path, focusing each of the two paths on the surface of the sample, respectively one in the crater and the other in the vicinity, along an incident direction inclined in relation to the surface of the sample, recombining the two beams reflected on the surface of the sample to form only one beam, and applying the recombined beam to an interferometric detector to measure the path difference between the two reflected beams. Application to ion analyzers.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.