Active Thermoprobe

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This patent describes an 'Active Thermoprobe' designed for continuous, direction-dependent measurement of energy input, especially in plasma technology and process diagnostics. The thermoprobe features heated measuring surfaces on both the upper and lower sides of a thin substrate, each with independent temperature control. By maintaining both surfaces at a constant temperature and compensating for thermal radiation from unwanted directions, the probe prevents measurement errors from unwanted heat flows. This setup allows for precise, separate detection of energy input on each face, enabling real-time process monitoring without interrupting the system.

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• Real-time monitoring and control of industrial plasma coating processes (such as sputtering, evaporation, CVD, PECVD, and MOCVD)
• Continuous energy input measurement in plasma-assisted material processing or diagnostics
• Process optimization and quality control in surface technology and thin film deposition
• Plasma diagnostics in research and development environments
• Environmental or biomedical plasma applications requiring precise energy measurements
• Energy monitoring in vacuum systems or environments sensitive to thermal loads

BenefitsContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Enables continuous, real-time measurement of energy input without interrupting the process or shutting down energy sources
• Eliminates measurement errors caused by unwanted heat flow via compensation and dual-side measurement
• Allows direction-specific detection of energy input, providing more accurate process data
• Improves process control, yielding higher product quality and reduced waste in industrial coating and manufacturing
• Requires no tedious calibration or mechanical shielding, simplifying setup and operation
• Minimizes the influence of environmental fluctuations and thermal noise, ensuring reliable long-term monitoring
• Supports sophisticated process automation through direct integration into feedback and control systems

Technical Classifications (CPCs)

Inventors & Applicants

Patent Abstract

The invention relates to an active thermoprobe, to a method for continuous measurement of the energy input and to a method for regulating the temperature at the measuring point, which are used in the continuous measurement of the energy input, inter alia, in diagnostics and in the regulation of plasma technology processes. The aim of the invention is to measure the energy input at the surface of the probe dependent on direction and to prevent unwanted heat flows been the probe and the input lines and mountings thereof, without the measurement results of the thermoprobe being falsified. In addition, the fluctuations in the heat output during regulation are to be minimised. The main feature of the invention is the direction-dependent measurement of the energy input with absolute compensation of the thermal radiation coming from the opposite direction, which is not intended to contribute to the measured value. For that purpose, a heated measuring surface is applied to each of the lower and upper faces of a thin substrate and said heated measuring surfaces are connected to a respective separate temperature control device, wherein the temperature of both heated measuring surfaces is held constant at the same level and upon change in the energy input at the measuring surfaces the respective heat output is separately reduced. The reduction in the heat output is a measure of the energy arriving at said measuring surface and the energy inputs on the rear face and the upper face of the thermoprobe are measured separately from each other.