A method of detecting defects in a structure sample comprising a thin film layer and a sacrificial later is disclosed. The method comprises exposing the thin film layer to a vapour phase etchant, obtaining an image of the thin film layer and analysing the image. The vapour phase etchant enhances any defects present in the thin film layer by passing through the defect and etching a cavity within the sacrificial layer. The cavity undercuts the thin film layer resulting in a stress region surrounding the defect. Defects which were not originally detectable may be made detectable after exposure to the vapour phase etchant. A vapour phase etchant has the advantage of being highly mobile such that it can access defects that a liquid phase etchant might not. Furthermore, unlike a liquid phase etchant, a vapour phase etchant can be used to test a sample non-destructively.

A method of identifying the material and determining the physical thickness of each layer in a multilayer structure is disclosed. The method includes measuring the optical thickness of each of the layers of the multilayer object as a function of wavelength of a light source and calculating a normalized group index of refraction dispersion curve for each layer in the multilayer structure. The measured normalized group index of refraction dispersion curves for each of the layers is then compared to a reference database of known materials and the material of each layer is identified. The physical thickness of each layer is then determined from the group index of refraction dispersion curve for the material in each layer and the measured optical thickness data. A method for determining the group index of refraction dispersion curve of a known material, and an apparatus for performing the methods are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to an electrode assembly and an inspection method therefor, whereby tab folding and alignment of an electrode may be accurately checked. The electrode assembly, according to one embodiment, has a structure in which at least one unit cell is laminated, the unit cell having a structure of a first electrode/a separator/a second electrode/a separator/a third electrode, wherein the first electrode and the third electrode may each comprise a tab protruding toward the outer periphery of one side, and the second electrode may comprise a tab protruding toward the outer periphery of the other side facing the one side.

Disclosed are methods that, by not physically touching a material being measured, can measure the material's differential response quite accurately. A collimated light shines on the material under test, is reflected off it, and is then captured by a device that records the position where the reflected light is captured. This process is done both before and after the material is processed in some way (e.g., by applying a coat of paint). The change in position where the reflected light is captured is used in calculating the deflection of the material as induced by the process. This measured induced deflection is then used to accurately determinate the stress introduced into the material by the process. Other characteristics of the material under test, such as aspects of the material composition of a bi-metallic strip, for example, may also be determined from a deflection measurement.

A method for 3D printing a part in a layer-wise manner includes providing a pool of polymerizable liquid in a vessel over a build window and positioning a downward-facing build platform in the pool, thereby defining a build region above the build window. The method includes selectively curing a volume of polymerizable liquid in the build region by imparting electromagnetic radiation through the build window to form a printed layer of the part adhered to the build platform and scanning at least a portion of the build window with monochromatic, polarized light along a plane of incidence. The method includes measuring a change in intensity and polarity of the light to obtain information about the printed layer. The method includes raising the build platform to a height of a next layer to be printed and modifying the electromagnetic energy imparted into the next layer based upon the obtained information to print a next layer. The imparting, scanning, measuring, raising and modifying steps are repeated until the part is printed.

One aspect of the present disclosure is a method for evaluating adhesiveness performance and heat radiation performance of a composite including a porous sintered ceramic component and a semi-cured product of a resin filled into pores of the sintered ceramic component, including a step of emitting ultraviolet rays to the surface of the semi-cured product of the composite; a step of measuring an emission intensity of fluorescence generated from the semi-cured product; and a step of evaluating adhesiveness performance and heat radiation performance of the composite using the value of the emission intensity.

A method of inspecting a radio frequency device modifies a radio frequency signal along electroconductive elements by changing dielectric material properties of a tunable dielectric material. The method includes: emitting a light beam through an optically transparent first substrate layer into a test volume of the tunable dielectric material with an inbound light intensity and/or inbound phase; applying a bias field to a test volume via a first transparent test electrode arranged at the first substrate layer and a second test electrode arranged opposite the first test electrode at a second substrate layer; measuring an outgoing light intensity and/or an outgoing phase of the light beam; and determining a property of the tunable dielectric material based on the outgoing light intensity and the incoming light intensity and/or based on a phase relation between the inbound phase and the outgoing phase of the light beam from the bias field.

The present invention relates to a method for determining the composition of a multi-layer system showing a predetermined colour flip-flop effect, wherein the multi-layer system comprises from bottom to top a) a substrate, b) at least one first colour layer containing a colourant, which is arranged on the substrate a), c) on the at least one first colour layer an effect layer containing at least one platelet-shaped effect pigment, and d) on the effect layer c) at least one second colour layer containing a colourant, wherein each of the at least one first colour layer and of the at least one second colour layer contains a colourant being no platelet-shaped effect pigment, wherein the method comprises the following steps: i) specifying a first target value for the colour shade and/or colour brightness of the top side of the multi-layer system seen at a first observation angle, ii) specifying a second target value for the colour shade and/or colour brightness of the top side of the multi-layer system seen at a second observation angle, wherein the second observation angle is different from the first observation angle, and wherein the second target value is different from the first target value, iii) specifying a colourant system comprising at least one colourant and further comprising one effect pigment layer recipe being suitable for forming the effect layer c), iv) providing at least one empirical model of the relationship between the colour shades and/or colour brightness at least two different observation angles comprising at least the first observation angle and the second observation angle specified in step ii) of the top side of a first number of multi-layer systems, at least 90% of which comprising at least one first colour layer b) having at least one colourant as specified in step iii), at least one second colour layer d) having at least one colourant as specified in step iii) and an effect layer c) made of the effect pigment layer recipe specified in step iii), and v) determining—making use of the at least one empirical model provided in step iv)—the composition of a multi-layer system (10) having within a predetermined tolerance the first target value specified in step i) and the second target value specified in step ii), or, if none is found, specifying a new tolerance for the first target value specified in step i) and/or the second target value specified in step ii), or specifying in steps i) and ii) a new first target value and/or new the second target value, or repeating the method by specifying in step iii) a different colourant system, which preferably covers more different colourants than the colourant system used before, wherei

In order to prevent an erroneous determination of an on-film defect, the sensitivity of the post-inspection is reduced so that a film swelling due to a minute defect would not be detected. Classification is performed to determine whether a defect is at least one of an on-film defect and a film swelling, by performing a coordinate correction on the result of a post-inspection by an actual-defect fine alignment using the result of a pre-inspection performed with two-stage thresholds, and by checking defects against each other. In addition, classification is performed to determine whether a defect is at least one of an on-film defect and a film swelling by, during the post-inspection, preparing instruction data from information of the refractive index and thickness of a film formed on a wafer and comparing the instruction data with a signal intensity ratio of a detection system.

A measurement apparatus includes a generator that causes electromagnetic waves to be incident on a sample, a receiver that receives electromagnetic waves reflected by the sample, and a controller that controls the generator and receiver. The sample includes a first layer on which the electromagnetic waves are incident and a second layer stacked on the first layer. The controller detects whether a third layer is present between the first and second layers based on the electromagnetic waves incident on the sample from the generator and the electromagnetic waves received by the receiver. The generator causes the electromagnetic waves to be incident at an angle such that the electromagnetic waves are totally reflected between the first and third layers and/or between the first and second layers.