Method of accurate thickness measurement of boron carbide coating on copper foil
First Claim
1. A process for measuring the effective thickness of a boron coating on copper foil comprising the steps of:
- (1) removing a sample of the boron coated copper foil from a larger length coated substrate;
(2) weighing the sample of boron coated copper foil;
(3) contacting the sample of boron coated copper foil with an etching solution;
(4) allowing the etching solution to dissolve the sample of boron coated copper foil;
(5) diluting the etching solution;
(6) determining the concentration of the material in the diluted etching solution utilizing inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy; and
(7) calculating the effective thickness of the coating (ts) using the equation;
ts=[(1.3C×
Vs×
df×
tcu×
dcu/Mt)×
1/(1−
1.3C×
Vs×
df/Mt)]where C=measured concentration from determining stepdf=sample dilution factorVs=volume of diluted etching solutiontcu=thickness of the copper foildcu—
density of the copper foilMt=mass of the boron coated sample.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method is disclosed of measuring the thickness of a thin coating on a substrate comprising dissolving the coating and substrate in a reagent and using the post-dissolution concentration of the coating in the reagent to calculate an effective thickness of the coating. The preferred method includes measuring non-conducting films on flexible and rough substrates, but other kinds of thin films can be measure by matching a reliable film-substrate dissolution technique. One preferred method includes determining the thickness of Boron Carbide films deposited on copper foil. The preferred method uses a standard technique known as inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICPOES) to measure boron concentration in a liquid sample prepared by dissolving boron carbide films and the Copper substrates, preferably using a chemical etch known as ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN). Measured boron concentration values can then be calculated.
-
Citations
14 Claims
-
1. A process for measuring the effective thickness of a boron coating on copper foil comprising the steps of:
-
(1) removing a sample of the boron coated copper foil from a larger length coated substrate; (2) weighing the sample of boron coated copper foil; (3) contacting the sample of boron coated copper foil with an etching solution; (4) allowing the etching solution to dissolve the sample of boron coated copper foil; (5) diluting the etching solution; (6) determining the concentration of the material in the diluted etching solution utilizing inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy; and (7) calculating the effective thickness of the coating (ts) using the equation;
ts=[(1.3C×
Vs×
df×
tcu×
dcu/Mt)×
1/(1−
1.3C×
Vs×
df/Mt)]where C=measured concentration from determining step df=sample dilution factor Vs=volume of diluted etching solution tcu=thickness of the copper foil dcu—
density of the copper foilMt=mass of the boron coated sample. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A process for measuring the effective thickness of a boron carbide coating on copper foil comprising the steps of:
-
(1) removing a sample of the boron carbide coated copper foil from a larger length of boron carbide coated copper foil; (2) weighing the sample of boron carbide coated copper foil; (3) contacting the sample of boron carbide coated copper foil with ceric ammonium nitrate etching solution; (4) allowing the etching solution to dissolve the sample of boron carbide coated copper foil; (5) diluting the etching solution to between about 2 and about 25 ppm boron; (6) determining the concentration of boron carbide in the diluted etching solution using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy; and (7) calculating the effective thickness of the boron coating (ts) using the equation;
ts=[(1.3C×
Vs×
df×
tcu×
dcu/Mt)×
1/(1−
1.3C×
Vs×
df/Mt)]where C=measured concentration from determining step df=sample dilution factor Vs=volume of liquid sample prepared tcu=thickness of the copper foil dcu—
density of the copper foilMt=mass of the sample. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
-
Specification