Patent ID: 7209234

Claim:
A method of determining an effective thickness of a material deposited on a surface to form a combination of deposited material which is transformed by the deposition process to result in a concrete tangible combination with said surface, in uncorrelated combination with determination of optical constants of said material, comprising the steps of: a1) providing an oscillating means having a surface area, said oscillating means being a part of an oscillator circuit such that it is caused to physically vibrate or support resonant or non-resonant acoustic waves when electrical potential is applied thereto; a2) providing a chamber into which a fluid which contains a depositable material is caused to be present as well as said oscillating means; b) simultaneously or sequentially: b1) allowing said depositable material to deposit onto the surface of said oscillating means before and/or while it is caused to vibrate and/or support resonant or non-resonant acoustic waves at a frequency; and b2) causing a beam of electromagnetic radiation to interact with said surface area of said oscillating means and then enter a data detector; such that said oscillating means is transformed into a combination of said oscillating means per se. and a deposited layer of material on said surface thereof, said deposited material being present in a transformed concrete and tangible form caused by said deposition process, as opposed to being in a dispersed in fluid form, said deposited material present in said transformed concrete and tangible form being appropriate for investigation with electromagnetic radiation in a manner not possible where said material is dispersed in fluid; c) in functional conjunction with step b) determining a relationship between a change in frequency of said oscillating means vs. effective thickness material deposited thereupon, and providing a mathematical model of the oscillating means and deposited material system which includes said effective thickness, and optical constants of the deposited material; d) analyzing change in frequency of said oscillating means to determine effective thickness of said deposited material, and performing regression of the data detector provided data onto said mathematical model to determine optical constants of said deposited material in view of said determined effective thickness.