Back to results
US 9,435,742 B2Granted
Automated plasma cleaning system
AssigneeSciAps, Inc.
InventorDavid Day
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An analysis (e.g., LIBS) system includes a laser source generating a laser beam for creating a plasma at a location on a sample, and a spectrometer responsive to photons emitted by the sample at said location and having an output. A controller is responsive to a trigger signal and is configured to activate the laser source generating a series of laser pulses in a cleaning cycle, process the spectrometer output, and automatically terminate the cleaning cycle based on the spectrometer output.
Claims21
An analysis system comprising:
- a laser source generating a laser beam for creating a plasma at a location on a sample;
- a spectrometer responsive to photons emitted by the sample at said location and having an output;
- and
- a controller subsystem, responsive to a trigger signal, and including a memory with computer code stored therein including programming to:
- activate the laser source generating a series of laser pulses striking the sample location in a cleaning cycle,
- process the resulting spectrometer output,
- automatically terminate the cleaning cycle at said sample location based on the spectrometer output indicating a clean sample location and
- initiate an analysis cycle at said sample location.
5 more elements
An analysis method comprising:
- in response to a trigger signal, activating a laser source generating a series of laser pulses creating a plasma at a location on a sample in a cleaning cycle;
- detecting photons emitted by the sample at said location and producing an output;
- processing the output;
- automatically terminating the cleaning cycle based on the output indicating a clean sample location;
- and
- initiating an analysis cycle at said location.
3 more elements
An analysis system comprising:
- a laser source generating a laser beam for creating a plasma at a location on a sample;
- a spectrometer responsive to photons emitted by the sample at said location and having an output;
- and
- means, responsive to a trigger signal, for:
- activating the laser source generating a series of laser pulses striking the sample location in a cleaning cycle,
- processing the resulting spectrometer output,
- automatically terminating the cleaning cycle based on the spectrometer output indicating a clean sample location;
- and
- initiating an analysis cycle at said sample location.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.