Patent ID: 6259530
Filing Date: 2001-07-10
Classification: G01B

Abstract:
A method for measuring the depths 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 comprising the steps of:splitting, by a splitting device, an incident bi-frequency laser beam into a measurement path and a reference path, wherein the measurement path is parallel to the reference path;focusing each of the measurement path and the reference path on the surface of the sample, respectively the measurement path in the crater and the reference path in the vicinity of the crater, along an incident direction inclined in relation to the surface of the sample;recombining, by a recombining device two beams reflected on the surface of the sample by the measurement path and the reference path to form only one beam, wherein the splitting device is separate from the recombining device; andapplying the recombined on beam to an interferometric detector to measure the path difference between the two reflected beams.