ThetaMetrisis - FR-Monitor

_FR-Monitor

Description

FR-Monitor (Fig. 1) is a software developed by ThetaMetrisis and provided with every FR-tool (i.e. FR-Basic, FR-Liquid, FR-Thermal, FR-μProbe and FR-Education) and in all configurations. FR-Monitor is implemented in Visual C++, and it is suitable for Windows operating systems (Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7).

FR-Monitor is designed as a general software platform to fully control all FR-tools subsystems: spectrometers, light sources, supporting electronics modules such as temperature controller, humidity sensors etc.

FR-Monitor supports various Modes of operation such as,
Scope (raw measurement spectrum),
Scope-Dark (raw measurement minus dark spectrum),
Absorbance Mode,
Transmittance Mode,
Reflectance Mode.
In all modes the following operations are supported a) spectra recording, b) specific wavelength(s) monitoring, c) integration of a specific part of the spectrum.

Fig. 1. General View of FR-Monitor.

FR-Monitor includes the White Light Reflectance Spectroscopy (WLRS) state-of-the-art algorithm (ThetaMetrisis^TM) for the accurate and real time characterization (both thickness and optical constants) of transparent or semi-absorbing films (single layer or multilayer films) and the recording of films' variations during dynamic change of conditions, e.g. dissolution, thermal treatment, ambient changes etc. An extended database of material's optical properties (refractive index n & extinction coefficient k, Fig. 2a,b) is supplied with the software, while the user can easily extend the database with custom material's properties.


Fig. 2a. Material Database, refractive index n	Fig. 2b. Material Database, extinction coefficient k

Fig. 3. FR-Monitor ver.1.3 Pull down menus and Buttons bar. Description of the buttons bar (from left to right): Material Database, Configuration // Real Time View, Fit (Mode) View, Result View (real time processing) // Off Line and Real Time button pallete, Pause/Stop, back to First Spectrum, back one Spectrum, forward one spectrum, forward to last spectrum, record spectra // Zoom+, Zoom-, Pan left, Pan right // Capture reference spectrum, Capture dark spectrum // Scope Mode, Scope - Dark Mode, Absorbance Mode, Transmittance Mode, Reflectance Mode, 0-100% or 0-1 scale (for Transmittance & Reflectance modes) // Open/Close lamp shutter.

In Result View (Fig. 4b) various measurement parameters (Fig. 4a) can be calculated/monitoring at real time, while the acquired spectra can be stored in a desirable rate.


Fig. 4a. Various Calculated/Measurement parameters can be added in Result View.	Fig. 4b. Result View screen for the real time calculation of the thickness variations of the SiO₂ film vs. time. The vertical scale is in nanometers (nm).

In all Modes of operation the acquired data / calculated parameters can be performed in Real Time, to monitor dynamically changed conditions, e.g. dissolution, thermal treatment, ambient changes, bio-reactions etc. Except the Real Time processing, in which various parameters can be Aquired/Calculated in real time, a Record feature is supported to record a full experiment (with the addition of the record log). The analysis of the recorded data can be perform later. In the Off Line processing, all FR-Monitor functions (including the Result View Mode described above) are available.

Finally FR-Monitor support any special Hardware module can be implemented in a FR-Basic tool, such as temperature control and measurement (e.g. in FR-Thermal), humidity, gas inlet etc.

Periodic upgrades of FR-Monitor are scheduled withinQ2 and Q4 of each calendar year. New FR-Monitor versions will be available at ThetaMetrisis web-site for downloading after customer authorization.

A 3-years free-software upgrade period is included with the purchase of any FR-tool.

For more information, please, refer to the FR-Monitor manual in Download section.