Patent ID: 8081308

Claim:
A manufacturing system, comprising: a product system configured to produce a product using at least one raw material; and a quality-assurance and manufacturing-control system configured to obtain a manufacturing material from the product system, wherein the manufacturing material includes the raw material, the product, or an intermediary material or by-product that is optionally obtained from the raw material in the production system, wherein the quality-assurance and manufacturing-control system is configured to introduce the manufacturing material in a sample solution, to allow the manufacturing material in the sample solution to contact with a nano-scale surface, to illuminate the manufacturing material and the nano-scale surface by a laser beam, to allow the laser beam to be scattered by the manufacturing material and the nano-scale surface to produce a scattered light, to obtain a Raman spectrum from the scattered light using a spectrometer, to search for a spectral signature of a harmful substance in a predetermined spectral region in the Raman spectrum to determine the existence of the harmful substance in the manufacturing material, to qualify the manufacturing material if the spectral signature is not found in the Raman spectrum, to determine the concentration of the manufacturing material if the spectral signature is found in the Raman spectrum, to qualify the manufacturing material if the concentration of the manufacturing material is determined to be below a predetermined tolerance level, and to reject the manufacturing material if the concentration of the manufacturing material is determined to be above a predetermined tolerance level.