A method is disclosed of measuring the thickness of a thin coating on a substrate comprising dissolving the coating and substrate in a reagent and using the post-dissolution concentration of the coating in the reagent to calculate an effective thickness of the coating. The preferred method includes measuring non-conducting films on flexible and rough substrates, but other kinds of thin films can be measure by matching a reliable film-substrate dissolution technique. One preferred method includes determining the thickness of Boron Carbide films deposited on copper foil. The preferred method uses a standard technique known as inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICPOES) to measure boron concentration in a liquid sample prepared by dissolving boron carbide films and the Copper substrates, preferably using a chemical etch known as ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN). Measured boron concentration values can then be calculated.

A panel inspection apparatus is provided. The panel inspection apparatus has a support platform, a delivery platform and a panel inspection assembly. The delivery platform is disposed on the support platform, and the delivery platform has a push module for delivering the panel. The panel inspection assembly includes a plurality of light source modules and a plurality of image-taking modules corresponding to the light source modules. The light source modules include a front light source, a first horizontal light source, and a back light source. The image-taking modules include a front light image-taking module, a first horizontal light image-taking module, and a back light image-taking module. The push module delivers the panel across the support platform so that a plurality of light beams emitted from the light source modules can scan the panel to finish the panel inspection process.

A system for physiologic parameter examination includes a housing and a test-strip tray. The housing includes a carrying cavity disposed on a top surface of the housing and including a window. The carrying cavity is configured to receive a portable electronic device having an image-capturing component. The image-capturing component corresponds to the window. The test-strip tray is movably disposed in the housing and located below the carrying cavity. The test-strip tray is configured to carry at least one test strip. The image-capturing component is adapted to capture a test reaction of the test strip through the window. A method for test strip recognition and interpretation applicable to the system is also provided.

A urinalysis cassette and system that includes a toilet, into which a urinalysis cassette is inserted. The cassette is comprised of a roll of color-change-reagent strips. Each strip includes a plurality of strip sections wherein an absorbent material is imbued with color-change reagent, or onto which one or more color-change reagents are dispensed. The color-change-reagent strips are consecutive and contiguous on the roll. A cassette includes two spools arranged such that when the spools turn, the reagent strip moves from a first (source spool) to a second (waste spool). The section of the reagent strip that is between the two spools may be exposed to a urine specimen. The absorbent-material strips that have been exposed to both a urine specimen and a color-change reagent may undergo a chemical reaction. Selective-lighting illumination may be applied to absorbent-material strips that have undergone such chemical reactions to measure reflectivity of certain color wavelengths. This measurement may be expressed in terms of a digital readout, which may be displayed on a user interface.

Methods and systems for performing optical measurements of geometric structures filled with an adsorbate by a gaseous adsorption process are presented herein. Measurements are performed while the metrology target under measurement is treated with a flow of purge gas that includes a controlled amount of fill material. A portion of the fill material adsorbs onto the structures under measurement and fills openings in the structural features, spaces between structural features, small volumes such as notches, trenches, slits, contact holes, etc. In one aspect, the desired degree of saturation of vaporized material in the gaseous flow is determined based on the maximum feature size to be filled. In one aspect, measurement data is collected when a structure is unfilled and when the structure is filled by gaseous adsorption. The collected data is combined in a multi-target model based measurement to reduce parameter correlations and improve measurement performance.

Methods and systems for performing optical measurements of the porosity of geometric structures filled with a fill material by a capillary condensation process are presented herein. Measurements are performed while the structure under measurement is treated with a flow of purge gas that includes a controlled amount of vaporized fill material. A portion of the fill material condenses and fills openings in the structural features such as pores of a planar film, spaces between structural features, small volumes such as notches, trenches, slits, contact holes, etc. In one aspect, the desired degree of saturation of vaporized material in the gaseous flow is determined based on the maximum feature size to be filled. In another aspect, measurement data is collected when a structure is unfilled and when the structure is filled. The collected data is combined in a multi-target model based measurement to estimate values of porosity and critical dimensions.

A device (1) for registering data and features of ducts includes at least one camera (3, 5), at least one distance measurement apparatus and at least one apparatus for measuring properties of the medium contained in the duct. Furthermore, provision can be made for an illumination apparatus (4), a tracking sensor (10), which emits data in relation to the current position of the device (1), and an inclination measurement device (inclinometer and gyroscopic compass 9). The device can have a passive or active drive for moving the device (1) along the duct. The device (1) can register a length recording of the duct with the aid of photo geometry or with sound, radar, acceleration sensors and/or mechanical distance measurements. Thus, after a duct has been inspected, each point can be assigned precisely in terms of length.

A substrate to be inspected includes a first pattern constructed with a repetitive pattern that is not resolved by a wavelength of a light source, and at least one alignment mark that is arranged on the same plane as the first pattern. The alignment mark includes a second pattern constructed with a repetitive pattern that is not resolved by the wavelength of the light source, and a programmed defect that is provided in the second pattern and not resolved by the wavelength of the light source. A focus offset is adjusted such that the strongest signal of the programmed defect is obtained with respect to a base value of a gradation value in an optical image of the programmed defect by capturing the optical image while changing a focal distance between the surface in which the first pattern is provided and an optical system.

Methods for determining a sample concentration of target entities in a sample, for example, determining a concentration of target antigens or antibodies in a blood sample or other biological sample.

A measurement system includes a cable having a length, a light source, at least one detector, and at least one processor. The light source is operably coupled to the cable and is configured to transmit an optical signal to the cable. The at least one processor is operably coupled to the cable and configured to: receive a scattered signal from the cable responsive to the optical signal transmitted to the cable; map the scattered signal to the length of the cable; and de-convolve a spatial averaging effect of the scattered signal using a weighting profile corresponding to the light source and the cable to generate a distributed property profile defined along the length of the cable.