JPH05157520A - Measuring apparatus of thickness of swelling film - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To correctly measure the thickness of a swelling film by providing a light permeable diaphragm between light emitting and light detecting elements and a sample, a liquid feeding means and a control means for measuring the thickness of the film after the liquid is filled between the sample and the diaphragm. CONSTITUTION:A supporting stage 4 is hollow. Many holes 24 are opened on the supporting surface 4a which supports a sample. A liquid storing member 10 is a hollow cylinder, and connected with a liquid feeding pipe 26 and a discharge pipe 28 so that a liquid to swell a sample 6 is filled in or discharged from the member 10. While the sample 6 is held by the supporting stage 4 and the member 10 in the liquid-tight state, a liquid 8 is supplied into the member 10 from the liquid feeding pipe 26. As a result, the liquid level is raised to be in touch with a surface 20a of a covering face 20 of a photosensor 12. The liquid level is detected by a liquid level sensor 30 provided in the discharge pipe 28 and a signal is output to a control device 22. When the signal is fed to the device 22 from the sensor 30, the device 22 activates a light emitting element 16 and a light detecting element 18 thereby to measure the film thickness. Since the cover 20 becomes an interface to the liquid 8 and is not varied, the thickness of the swelling film of the sample 6 can be correctly measured.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a swelling film thickness meter for measuring a film thickness when a coating film applied to a support absorbs a liquid and swells.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a photographic light-sensitive material (film, printing paper, etc.) is processed with a processing liquid, the emulsion film of the photographic light-sensitive material absorbs the processing liquid and swells. Understanding the swelling behavior of a photographic light-sensitive material is essential in the design, process control, and quality control of the photographic light-sensitive material. In order to meet such demand, an apparatus for measuring the film thickness when the emulsion film is swollen is known.

As the film thickness meter, there are a contact type and a non-contact type. As a contact-type film thickness meter, there is one in which a measuring terminal is brought into contact with a swelling film while supplying a liquid to a photographic light-sensitive material, and the film thickness is measured from a displacement difference of the measuring terminal. Further, as a non-contact type film thickness meter, light or ultrasonic waves are oscillated toward the swelling film while supplying the liquid to the photographic light-sensitive material, and a reflection path of the light or ultrasonic waves reflected on the surface of the swelling film or The film thickness is measured by the so-called trigonometric method, which measures the reflection time.

[0004]

However, in the contact-type film thickness meter, a slight load is applied to the swelling film when the measuring terminal contacts the swelling film, so that the swelling film is directed toward the support. It is pressed down and it dents. Therefore, the amount of depression of the swollen film causes a measurement error, which causes a problem that an accurate film thickness cannot be measured. Further, if the surface strength of the swelling film is weak, the surface of the swelling film is destroyed by contact with the measurement terminal, and similarly, it becomes impossible to accurately measure the film thickness.

Further, the measurement by a non-contact type film thickness meter is carried out after the droplets are supplied to the photographic light-sensitive material to allow it to swell. There is a problem that the light or ultrasonic waves to be reflected on the swollen film is reflected on the surface of the droplet, and the behavior of the surface of the droplet is unstable, so that the film thickness cannot be accurately measured. An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a swollen film thickness meter capable of accurately measuring the swollen film thickness.

[0006]

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following items (1) and (2). (1) A support for supporting a sample, a light emitting element for irradiating the sample on the support with light, a light receiving element for receiving reflected light from the sample, the light emitting element and the light receiving element, and the sample A light-transmissive partition wall disposed between the partition wall and the partition wall, a liquid supply means for supplying a liquid between the sample and the partition wall, and a film thickness measurement after the liquid is filled between the sample and the partition wall. And a control means for starting the swelling film thickness meter.

(2) A support table for supporting the sample, and an oscillating element for irradiating the sample on the support table with ultrasonic waves.
After the liquid is filled between the sample and the oscillating element, the vibration receiving element that receives the reflected wave from the sample, the liquid supply means that supplies the liquid between the sample and the oscillating element and the vibration receiving element, A swollen film thickness meter, comprising: a control means for starting film thickness measurement.

[0008]

The liquid for swelling the sample is not a trace amount such as a liquid droplet, but is present between the sample and the partition in the optical measuring instrument of (1) and the sample in the ultrasonic measuring instrument of (2). Is supplied to fill the entire space between the oscillator and the oscillating element.

When the liquid is filled between the sample and the partition wall when measuring with an optical measuring instrument, the liquid surface is always flat and maintained at a constant level. Does not change depending on the liquid surface, and the film thickness can be accurately measured. The partition wall is a member such as transparent or colored glass or plastic that allows the emitted light from the light emitting element and the reflected light from the sample to pass therethrough and does not allow the liquid to pass therethrough. Such a partition may be provided separately from the measurement terminal provided with the light emitting element and the light receiving element for measurement, or the cover of the measurement terminal may be used by functioning as the partition. Laser light is preferable as the emitted light.

The portion of the partition wall that serves as the optical path is preferably a surface parallel to the sample, but it may be a surface parallel to the light emitting element and / or the light receiving element, or a simple flat surface not parallel to the sample. May be. When measuring with an ultrasonic type measuring instrument, if the liquid is filled between the sample and the oscillating element and between the sample and the vibration receiving element, the oscillating ultrasonic wave and the reflected ultrasonic wave will change due to the fluctuation of the liquid surface or the air. Without this, the film thickness can be accurately measured.

The measurement sample in the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned photographic light-sensitive material, but may be any one that swells. Examples include gelatin and various plastics.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and the embodiments can be appropriately modified based on the technical idea of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a swollen film thickness meter. The film thickness meter 2 includes a support base 4 for supporting and fixing the sample, a liquid storage member 10 for liquid-tightly sandwiching the sample 6 between the support base 4 and the swelling liquid 8, and an optical sensor 12. There is. The optical sensor 12 is fixed to a lid 14 provided by closing the upper portion of the liquid containing member 10. The optical sensor 12 includes a light emitting unit 16 that irradiates the sample 6 with the light a and a light receiving element 18 that receives the light b reflected by the sample 6.

A cover 20 having a light-transmitting property is mounted below the optical sensor 12. The cover 20 is made of a material such as glass or plastic and may be transparent or colored. The facing portion 20a facing the sample 6 is formed on a surface parallel to the sample supporting surface 4a of the support 4. Support surface 4a
By making the area of the facing portion 20a parallel to the area as small as possible, when the liquid 8 is supplied into the liquid containing portion 10, bubbles are locked in the facing portion 20a, and an air layer is formed under the cover 20. Can be prevented.

The light emitting element 16 and the light receiving element 18 are connected to the control device 22, and the swelled film thickness can be measured by calculating the time difference from the light emission to the light reception, the light amount difference, the phase difference and the like by the control device 22. it can. Although not shown, whether the control device 22 has a built-in calculation means or storage means,
Or it is connected with these.

The support base 4 can be moved to a position shown by an imaginary line, and the sample 6 can be loaded / unloaded at a position separated from the liquid storage member 10. Note that the support base 4 may be configured to be separated from the liquid storage member 10, or the liquid storage member 10 may be configured to be separated from the support base 4.

The support base 4 is formed in a hollow shape, and the sample support surface 4
A large number of holes 24 are formed in a. An intake means (a vacuum pump or the like) (not shown) is connected to the support base 4 so that the internal air is sucked to the outside as shown by the arrow. Therefore, when the sample 6 is placed on the support surface 4a of the support base 4 and the internal air is sucked by the suction means, the sample 6 is adsorbed and fixed on the support surface 4a. The sample 6 is fixed with the swelling surface facing upward, and when the sample 6 is a photographic light-sensitive material, it is fixed with the emulsion surface facing upward.

The liquid containing member 10 is formed in a hollow cylindrical shape. The liquid storage member 10 includes a liquid supply pipe 26 and a drain pipe 28.
Are connected to each other, and the liquid 8 for swelling the sample 6 can be filled in the liquid storage member 10 and further discharged. Further, the drain pipe 28 is provided with a liquid level sensor 30 capable of detecting a liquid level of a predetermined level.

The liquid containing member 10 is provided with a sealing means 32 such as an O-ring on the contact surface with the sample 6 so that the sample 6 can be sandwiched between the supporting base 4 and the sample 6 in a liquid-tight manner. Therefore, the liquid 8 in the liquid storage member 10 does not leak to the side surface and the back surface of the sample 6 and the sample 6 can be prevented from swelling from the side surface and the back surface side. Since the sample 6 swells only from the proper swelling surface side, the swelling behavior can be accurately measured.

The sample 6 by the support 4 and the liquid containing member 10.
Liquid-tightly sandwiched between the liquid supply pipe 26 and the liquid storage member 1
When the liquid 8 is supplied into the liquid containing member 0, the liquid level rises in the liquid containing member 10 and the surface 20 of the cover 20 of the optical sensor 12
touch a. At this time, the liquid level sensor 30 provided in the drainage pipe 28 detects the liquid level when the liquid 8 contacts the surface 20 a of the cover 20, and outputs a signal to the control device 22. When a signal is supplied from the liquid level sensor 30, the control device 22 operates the light emitting element 16 and the light receiving element 18 to start film thickness measurement. Here, in order to shorten the time lag from when the liquid 8 comes into contact with the sample 6 to start swelling and when the liquid 8 reaches the surface 20a of the cover 20 and measurement is started,
The liquid 8 is preferably supplied at a high speed. By shortening the time lag, the behavior from the start of swelling can be accurately measured.

Liquid is supplied so that the liquid level continues to rise in the liquid containing member 10 even after the liquid level sensor 30 detects the liquid level. When the liquid surface is located above the lower end (surface 20a) of the cover 20, the liquid supply amount is reduced, and thereafter, the supplied amount overflows from the drain pipe 28. Therefore, since the liquid 8 is always in contact with the surface 20a of the cover 20 and the liquid 8 is always present between the cover 20 and the sample 6, the measurement conditions such as the refractive index of the liquid 8 are constant.
Alternatively, the drain pipe 28 may be omitted to prevent the liquid 8 from overflowing, and the sample 6 may be swollen only with the liquid 8 filled in the liquid container 10.

When the light emitting element 16 and the light receiving element 18 are operated by the controller 22, the light emitting element 16 irradiates the sample 6 with the light a, and the reflected light b reaches the light receiving element 18.
The control device 22 measures the swollen film thickness of the sample 6 from the light emitting state of the light emitting element 16 and the light receiving state of the light receiving element 18. To measure the film thickness, there are a triangulation method that measures the arrival position of reflected light, a light quantity measurement method (fiber method) that measures the amount of reflected light, and a light wave phase measurement method that applies image detection and spatial filter technology. .. Light emitting element 16 and light receiving element 18
By selecting and providing those corresponding to these measuring methods, the swollen film thickness of the sample 6 can be measured by each measuring method.

In any of these methods, the light emitting element 16
For example, a laser diode (LD), a light emitting diode (LED), or the like can be used. As the light receiving element 18, a position sensing device (PSD) is used in the trigonometry method, and a photodiode array (PDA) is used in the light quantity measurement method and the light wave phase measurement method. When calculating the film thickness, the measured value is appropriately corrected in consideration of the refractive index of the liquid 8 and the cover 20.

When the liquid 8 is supplied onto the sample 6, the surface of the sample 6 absorbs the liquid and swells. The swelling amount changes with the passage of time, and the thickness increases with the passage of time. Therefore, the behavior of swelling can be detected by detecting the thickness of the swelling film with the optical sensor 12.

Since the film thickness meter 2 having the above structure is not in contact with the sample 6, the film thickness can be accurately measured without deforming the swelling film unlike the contact type measuring meter. Moreover, since the liquid 8 having a constant depth is always present between the light emitting element 16, the light receiving element 18, and the sample 8, and the liquid interface is flat, there is no influence of a variable element such as a change in the liquid surface and Since the passing state is constant, the film thickness can be accurately measured.

In the film thickness meter 2 described above, the cover 2 of the optical sensor 12 is used.
When 0 comes into contact with the liquid 8, the liquid surface becomes flat between the optical sensor 12 and the sample 6, and the liquid surface height is constant. Good.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a film thickness meter 42 which is another embodiment of the present invention. In this film thickness meter, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, instead of the cover 20, a flat partition wall 44 made of the same material as the cover 20 is provided below the optical sensor 12 in parallel with the sample support surface 4a of the support base 4. It has a different structure. Only the characteristic part will be described below.

The partition wall 44 has the same function as that of the cover 20 for maintaining the liquid level between the optical sensor 12 and the sample 6 flat and maintaining the liquid level constant. In this film thickness meter 42, the distance between the partition wall 44 and the sample 6 is constant, and since the liquid 8 is filled in this region at the time of measurement, the position where the optical sensor 12 is provided is not limited. It is possible to measure even if the sensor 12 is arranged separately from the film thickness meter 42. At this time, the lid 14 on the liquid storage member 10 is omitted or formed of a light-transmissive material so that light can be transmitted therethrough. Further, it is preferable that the light emission output by the optical sensor 12 is also strong.

Since the optical sensor 12 can be provided separately from the liquid accommodating member 10, the optical sensor 12 can be easily replaced, and the optical sensor 12 suitable for the sample 6 can be easily prepared even if the type of the sample 6 changes. It can be attached to and is easy to maintain.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a film thickness meter which is another embodiment of the present invention. The film thickness meter 52 has a configuration in which the film thickness meter 2 shown in FIG. 1 is inverted, and only the characteristic portion will be described below.

The sample 6 is fixed to the support surface 4a, which is the lower surface of the support base 4, with the swelling surface facing downward. The optical sensor 12 is provided at the bottom of the liquid containing member 10 in a liquid-tight manner.
A light-transmitting cover 20 is provided above the light emitting element 16 and the light receiving element 18 of No. 2. A liquid supply pipe 26 and a drainage pipe 28 are connected to the liquid storage member 10, and the drainage pipe 28
Is provided with a liquid level sensor 30 at the same height as the sample 6. Then, the liquid 8 is supplied from the liquid supply pipe 26,
When the liquid 8 comes into contact with the sample 6, the liquid level sensor 30 sends a signal to the control device 22 to start the film thickness measurement. According to the film thickness meter 52, there is no time lag between the start of swelling and the start of film thickness measurement, and the behavior from the start of swelling can be accurately measured.

Next, an ultrasonic film thickness meter according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an ultrasonic film thickness meter. This film thickness meter 56 has a structure in which an ultrasonic sensor 58 is provided instead of the optical sensor 12 in the film thickness meter 52 shown in FIG.

The ultrasonic sensor 58 includes an oscillating element 60 and a vibration receiving element 62, and the oscillating element 60 and the vibration receiving element 62 are in contact with the liquid 8. The oscillation element 60 and the vibration receiving element 62 are connected to the control device 22, and the film thickness is detected by comparing the oscillation wave c from the oscillation element 60 and the reflected wave d detected by the vibration receiving element 62. Since the ultrasonic wave c oscillated from the oscillating element 60 is reflected on the front surface and the back surface of the sample 6, respectively, the phase shift and the peak of the oscillating wave c and the reflected wave d are detected, and the film thickness is measured based on them. be able to.

Since the oscillating element 60 and the vibration receiving element 62 are provided in contact with the liquid 8 respectively, the respective elements 60, 62
There is only the liquid 8 between the sample 6 and the sample 6. Therefore,
The only factor affecting the oscillating wave c and the reflected wave d is the sound velocity in the liquid 8, and since the sound velocity is constant, the oscillating wave c,
The swollen film thickness can be accurately measured based on the following equation from the reflected wave d and the sound velocity of the liquid 8. D = 0.5 × T × V D: swelling film thickness T: time after ultrasonic oscillation until reflection and back on the back surface V: speed of sound of water

[0035]

EXAMPLES The swollen film thicknesses of the reversal broni film and SHG1600, which are photosensitive materials manufactured by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., were measured by an ultrasonic film thickness meter shown in FIG. In the case of the reversal broni film, the film thickness measured by the conventional method was 40 to 42 μm, and it was possible to detect only a value within a certain range. However, according to the device of the present invention, when the sound velocity of water is 1400 m / sec. , Change in reflection time is 60 ns
ec was detected, and from these values the film thickness was 4
It was able to be detected to be 2 μm. In the case of SHG1600, the film thickness measured by the conventional method was 38 μm, and the measurement accuracy was low.
At 00 m / s, it was possible to detect that the change in reflection time was 57 nsec. From these values, the film thickness was 39.9 μm.
Was detected.

Using a laser beam type film thickness meter shown in FIG. 3, a reverse color paper (RCP) made by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
Was measured. The measurement result by this and the measurement result by the conventional method are shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the swelling time and the swelling amount (film thickness). According to the conventional method, the film thickness can be measured only up to 41 μm, and the change over time thereafter cannot be measured. However, according to the present invention, it is possible to cope with the change over time in the film thickness after 4 to 5 minutes. It was possible to measure that the film thickness was up to 43 μm.

[0037]

According to the present invention, since the state of the liquid between the sample and the measuring terminal is constant, the amount and characteristics of the light or ultrasonic waves radiated to the sample, the reflected light or ultrasonic waves are Therefore, the swollen film thickness of the sample can be accurately measured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an optical sensor type film thickness meter according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an optical sensor type film thickness meter according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an optical sensor type film thickness meter according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an ultrasonic sensor type film thickness meter according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the swelling time and the swelling amount (film thickness) in the measurement according to the present invention and the measurement according to the conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2, 52, 56 Film thickness meter 4 Support base 4a Support surface 6 Sample 8 Liquid 10 Liquid storage member 12 Optical sensor 14 Lid 16 Light emitting element 18 Light receiving element 20 Cover 20a Facing part 22 Controller 24 Hole 26 Liquid supply pipe 28 Draining liquid Tube 30 Liquid level sensor 32 Sealing means 44 Partition wall 58 Ultrasonic sensor 60 Oscillation element 62 Vibrating element a Irradiation light b Reflected light c Oscillation wave d Reflected wave

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A support table for supporting a sample, a light-emitting element for irradiating the sample on the support table with light, a light-receiving element for receiving reflected light from the sample, the light-emitting element and a light-receiving element. A light-transmitting partition wall disposed between the sample and the sample,
Liquid supply means for supplying a liquid between the sample and the partition wall, and control means for starting film thickness measurement after the liquid is filled between the sample and the partition wall Swelling film thickness meter. 2. A support table for supporting the sample, an oscillating element for irradiating the sample on the support table with ultrasonic waves, a vibration receiving element for receiving a reflected wave from the sample, the sample and the oscillating element. And liquid supply means for supplying a liquid between the vibration receiving element,
A swollen film thickness meter, comprising: a control unit that starts film thickness measurement after the liquid is filled between the sample and the oscillation element.