Analysis device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9279720-B2
Application number	US-201113634207-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2011
Priority date	Mar 24, 2010
Publication date	Mar 8, 2016
Grant date	Mar 8, 2016

Abstract

An analysis device for analyzing components contained in an object includes a light emitting unit that irradiates the object with light, a transmissive spectral filter, a light detector including a plurality of light receiving elements, an analysis unit. The spectral filter includes a substrate having light transmissivity and being disposed on a light path of the light after being reflected by the object or the light after passing through the object, a plurality of raised portions formed with a metal material on one surface of the substrate, and a metal oxide film including a metal oxide material having a higher refractive index than the metal material, so as to cover the plurality of raised portions and the one surface of the substrate.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An analysis device for analyzing components contained in an object, the analysis device comprising:
a light emitting unit that irradiates the object with light;
a transmissive spectral filter;
a light detector comprising a plurality of light receiving elements;
an analysis unit,
wherein the spectral filter includes:
a substrate having light transmissivity and being disposed on a light path of the light after being reflected by the object or the light after passing through the object;
a plurality of raised portions formed with a metal material on one surface of the substrate; and
a metal oxide film comprising a metal oxide material having a higher refractive index than the metal material, so as to cover the plurality of raised portions and the one surface of the substrate,

wherein the plurality of raised portions are disposed such that the metal oxide film existing between adjacent raised portions serves as a diffraction grating, incident light that is incident on the raised portions propagating inside the raised portions as an evanescent wave,
wherein at least one of a grating pitch of the diffraction grating, a height of the raised portions, and a thickness of the metal oxide film is set to a different value for each portion of the spectral filter, such that a wavelength of light that passes through the spectral filter changes for each of the portions,
wherein the light detector is disposed such that each of the plurality of light receiving elements receives light that passes through the spectral filter,
wherein the analysis unit acquires a spectrum of the object from output signals respectively output by the plurality of light receiving elements, identifies a component contained in the object from the acquired spectrum, selects a calibration curve corresponding to the identified component from a plurality of calibration curves prepared in advance, and calculates a content of the component using the selected calibration curve, and
wherein the material of the substrate includes silicon oxide, and the metal oxide material of the metal oxide film includes titanium oxide (TiO 2 );

a beam splitter that splits light irradiated by the light emitting unit; and
a reference sensor unit that receives the light split by the beam splitter and outputs a reference signal,
wherein the beam splitter is disposed between the light emitting unit and the object,
wherein the reference sensor unit includes:
an attenuating filter,
a second spectral filter that is the same as the spectral filter; and
a second light detector that is the same as the light-detector,

wherein the attenuating filter, the second spectral filter, and the second light detector are disposed such that the light split by the beam splitter is incident in order of the attenuating filter, the second spectral filter, and the second light detector,
wherein a plurality of light receiving elements of the second light detector output signals according to incident light, and
wherein the analysis unit corrects the output signal of each of the plurality of light receiving elements of the light detector based on the signals from the second light detector.

2. The analysis device according to claim 1 , wherein the light emitting unit irradiates the object with light intermittently.

3. The analysis device according to claim 1 , wherein the light emitting unit is provided with a plurality of light emitting elements, and irradiates the object with light continuously by causing one or two or more of the light emitting elements to emit light alternately.

4. The analysis device according to claim 1 , wherein the grating pitch of the diffraction grating is formed for each portion of the spectral filter, so as to be shorter than the wavelength of light required to pass through the portion.

5. The analysis device according to claim 1 , wherein the metal material includes gold (Au).

6. The analysis device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of raised portions are each formed in a rectangular column shape, and are disposed in a matrix.

7. The analysis device according to claim 1 , wherein the light detector comprises a solid-state imaging device including a semiconductor substrate on which the plurality of light receiving elements are formed in a matrix.

8. The analysis device according to claim 2 , wherein the grating pitch of the diffraction grating is formed for each portion of the spectral filter, so as to be shorter than the wavelength of light required to pass through the portion.

9. The analysis device according to claim 3 , wherein the grating pitch of the diffraction grating is formed for each portion of the spectral filter, so as to be shorter than the wavelength of light required to pass through the portion.

10. The analysis device according to claim 2 , wherein the metal material includes gold (Au).

11. The analysis device according to claim 1 , wherein light of a set frequency, among types of light included in the incident light, reaches the substrate and is transmitted through the substrate.

12. The analysis device according to claim 1 , wherein only light of a set frequency, among types of light included in the incident light, reaches the substrate and is transmitted through the substrate.

13. The analysis device according to claim 1 , wherein the incident light, which is incident on the spectral filter from another side of the light detector, is incident on the raised portion from the metal oxide film.

14. The analysis device according to claim 1 , wherein the analysis unit is configured to calculate the content of the component by deriving absorbance from the acquired spectrum of the object and applying the derived absorbance to the selected calibration curve.

Assignees

• Kamimura Ippei
• Nec Solution Innovators Ltd

Inventors

• Kamimura Ippei

Classifications

• G01N21/3577

  for analysing liquids, e.g. polluted water · CPC title

• G01J3/36

  Investigating two or more bands of a spectrum by separate detectors · CPC title

• G01J3/42

  Absorption spectrometry; Double beam spectrometry; Flicker spectrometry; Reflection spectrometry (beam switching arrangements G01J3/08) · CPC title

• G01N2021/3177

  Use of spatially separated filters in simultaneous way · CPC title

• G01N21/255

  Details, e.g. use of specially adapted sources, lighting or optical systems · CPC title