An optical measurement system

Abstract

The present invention relates to an optical measurement system. The optical measurement system comprises: a chip, an optical coupling device and an optical prism, wherein the optical coupling device is a convex structure formed of a polymer material. The convex surface of the optical coupling device is bonded to the chip; and the flat surface of the optical coupling device is bonded to the optical prism. The present invention adopts an optical coupling device prepared from a polymer elastic medium to completely replace the role of cedar oil, and bonds the chip to the optical prism, which not only takes into account the stability of the optical system, but also solves the problem of optical system transmission. At the same time, it has the advantages of simple, convenient and practical operation, thereby providing guidance for realizing automated operation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of optical measurement, and in particular to an optical measurement system. Background Art

[0002] There are two ways to couple the sensor chip and the optical path used in the existing SPR detector using Kretschmann structure modulation: one conventional method is to use an integrated structure of an optical prism and a chip. Since the optical prism requires high precision and high stability, and the current production methods mostly use manual grinding or plastic injection molding, these two production methods cannot solve the problems of batch differences and production costs. Currently, this method is only used on the first generation of SPR detectors; the second method is to drip liquid substances such as cedar oil between the optical prism and the chip matrix to solve the problem of optical transmission between the two media. The problem caused by this is that manual dripping is required every time the chip is used, making the entire operation more cumbersome and unable to achieve automated detection. In addition, after each dripping, the two media are fitted together and the bubbles that interfere with the detection cannot be completely eliminated, resulting in detection failure. Summary of the invention

[0003] The purpose of the present invention is to provide an optical measurement system which can take into account the stability of the optical system and solve the problem of optical system transmission, and has the advantages of simple operation, convenience, and practicality.

[0004] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following solutions:

[0005] An optical measurement system comprises: a chip, an optical coupling device and an optical prism;

[0006] The optical coupling device is a convex structure formed of a polymer material; the convex surface of the optical coupling device is bonded to the chip; and the plane of the optical coupling device is bonded to the optical prism.

[0007] Preferably, the polymer material is silicone rubber, polybutadiene or transparent epoxy resin.

[0008] Preferably, the optical coupling device has a preset deformation range from the convex surface to the planar surface.

[0009] Preferably, the preset deformation range is 10%d to 30%d, wherein d is the height of the optical coupling device.

[0010] Preferably, the optical coupling device is prepared by cold demoulding of a liquid polymer material.

[0011] Preferably, when compressed, the radius of curvature of the optical coupling device changes with the change of the central angle; the central angle is the angle between the convex surface and the vertical central axis of the optical coupling device.

[0012] Preferably, the refractive index of the optical coupling device matches the refractive index of the optical prism.

[0013] According to the specific embodiments provided by the present invention, the present invention discloses the following technical effects:

[0014] The optical measurement system provided by the present invention adopts an optical coupling device prepared from a polymer elastic medium to completely replace the role of cedar oil, and is bonded between a chip and an optical prism. It can not only take into account the stability of the optical system, but also solve the problem of optical system transmission. At the same time, it has the advantages of simple, convenient and practical operation, and thus provides guidance for realizing automated operation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0016] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of the optical measurement system provided by the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 A measurement principle diagram of an optical measurement system used in an SPR detector is provided for an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the use of an optical coupling device provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 The SPR signal result diagram generated by the existing integrated chip;

[0020] Figure 5 A result diagram of an SPR signal generated by an optical measurement system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 6 A comparison chart of different concentration values ​​between the optical measurement system provided by an embodiment of the present invention and the existing integrated chip.

[0022] Description of reference numerals:

[0023] 1- chip, 2- optical coupling device, 3- optical prism. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0025] The purpose of the present invention is to provide an optical measurement system, which uses a polymer elastic medium to completely replace the role of cedar oil to bond between two chips and an optical prism. It can not only take into account the stability of the optical system, but also solve the problem of optical system transmission. At the same time, the operation is simple, convenient and practical, and fully automated operation is realized.

[0026] In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0027] like Figure 1 As shown, the optical measurement system provided by the present invention includes: a chip 1, an optical coupling device 2 and an optical prism 3.

[0028] The optical coupling device 2 is a convex structure formed of a polymer material, so that the chip 1 can discharge bubbles in real time when it contacts the optical coupling device 2. The convex surface of the optical coupling device 2 is bonded to the chip 1. The flat surface of the optical coupling device 2 is bonded to the optical prism 3. The polymer material used in the present invention can be silicone rubber, polybutadiene or transparent epoxy resin.

[0029] The purpose of setting the optical coupling device 2 as a convex structure in the present invention is to enable the optical coupling device 2 to undergo a certain deformation. Therefore, in this embodiment, the deformation range of the optical coupling device 2 is set to 10%d to 30%d, where d is the height of the optical coupling device 2. When the deformation occurs (formed by the extrusion of the chip 1), the curvature radius of the optical coupling device 2 changes with the change of the central angle. The central angle is the angle between the convex surface and the vertical central axis of the optical coupling device 2. In order to further improve the accuracy of light measurement, the refractive index of the optical coupling device 2 matches the refractive index of the optical prism 3.

[0030] The following is based on Figure 2 The measurement principle shown here illustrates the construction process and use process of the optical measurement system provided by the present invention.

[0031] The optical coupling device 2 provided by the present invention is a polymer optical coupling device 2 for non-permanent passive coupling between two light-transmitting media and can be reused. Figure 3As shown, the polymer optical coupling device 2 is attached to the surface of the optical prism 3 and has a refractive index that matches the optical prism 3. The term "matched refractive index" used herein means that the refractive index of the optical coupling device 2 should be appropriately matched or adapted to the optical prism 3 in each specific application, such as an SPR optical path device or an ellipsometer optical path system, where the incident light enters the interface at a certain angle, and the moderate refractive index deviation allowed should meet the requirements of the two interfaces of the coupling device, that is, the incident light needs to be transferred between the optical prism 3-coupling device-chip substrate, and then converged to the surface of the chip substrate to meet the conditions for forming SPR excitation, such as Figure 2 shown.

[0032] The polymer material in the optical coupling device 2 is attached to the bottom of the optical prism 3 to form a certain convex structure, which is mainly to eliminate the generation of bubbles during the compression and bonding process of the chip contacting the convex surface. The polymer material used in the present invention can be a polymer substance such as silicone rubber or polybutadiene and transparent epoxy resin. In addition to meeting the matching refractive index requirements, the use of these materials can also provide a certain elastic deformation. The range of compression force required for elastic deformation is usually from 0.1 to 50N, and the appropriate compression degree of the optical coupling device 2 in the vertical direction is from 10% to 30%. The maximum height elasticity is when the optical coupling device 2 is in its uncompressed state. During compression, the rate radius of the convex surface of the optical coupling device 2 changes with the change of the angle between the convex surface and the vertical center axis.

[0033] In this embodiment, the optical coupling element is mainly manufactured by shaping a convex surface on the corresponding concave wall of a glass mold. The concave wall mold cavity can be formed on the surface of the substrate by grinding or polishing the mold, and then a liquid polymer material is injected into the concave wall mold cavity, and then it is solidified and demolded at low temperature.

[0034] The differences between the existing integrated chip and the optical measurement system provided by the present invention are compared below, and the advantages of the optical measurement system provided by the present invention are described.

[0035] The SPR signal between the integrated chip and the optical measurement system (referred to as the coupled chip) provided by the present invention is as follows: Figure 4 and Figure 5 The comparison of detection data (sensitivity) of different concentrations between the integrated chip and the coupled chip is shown in Figure 6 And as shown in Table 1.

[0036] Table 1 Comparison of test data of different concentrations

[0037]

[0038]

[0039] Based on the above comparison results, it can be concluded that the sensitivity of the optical measurement system provided by the present invention is slightly lower than that of the integrated chip. The comparison (precision) of the detection data of 10 coupled chips and the integrated chip at the same concentration is shown in Table 2.

[0040] Table 2 Precision comparison table

[0041] chip All-in-one Coupled 1 283 258 2 289 225 3 183 232 4 236 236 5 272 236 6 241 250 7 214 228 8 221 226 9 205 244 10 165 249 AVG 230.90 238.40 SD 41.63 11.34 RSD 18.03％ 4.75％

[0042] Based on the above comparison results, it can be concluded that the sensitivity of the coupled chip is much higher than that of the integrated chip.

[0043] In summary, the optical measurement system provided by the present invention has the following advantages:

[0044] 1. The present invention solves the series of shortcomings and deficiencies caused by the previous use of liquid substances such as cedar oil to seal and connect the two components and the chip optical prism as an integrated unit by using an optical coupling device.

[0045] 2. The present invention can make the optical measurement system have a matching refractive index relative to at least one medium by changing the preparation material of the optical coupling device, so as to ensure that the propagation of light between the two coupling media is basically free of light refraction or diffraction and low light scattering problems, and can maintain the polarization direction of the light.

[0046] 3. The present invention can repeatedly connect to the optical transmission medium between the same or other solids by using optical coupling devices; it can also be replaced at any time when it is contaminated or cannot be used under other circumstances.

[0047] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. The same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referenced to each other.

[0048] The principles and implementation methods of the present invention are described in this article using specific examples. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method and core idea of ​​the present invention. At the same time, for those skilled in the art, according to the idea of ​​the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scope. In summary, the content of this specification should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

Claims

1. An optical measurement system, characterized in that: include: Chips, optical coupling devices and optical prisms; The optical coupling device is a convex structure formed of a polymer material; The convex surface of the optical coupling device is bonded to the chip; the flat surface of the optical coupling device is bonded to the optical prism; The optical coupling device is a reusable polymer optical coupling device for non-permanent passive coupling between two light-transmitting media. When in use, the optical coupling device is attached to the surface of an optical prism and has a refractive index that matches the optical prism. The matching refractive index means that when the incident light enters the interface at a certain angle, the moderate refractive index deviation allowed should meet the requirements of the two interfaces of the coupling device, that is, the incident light needs to be transferred between the optical prism-coupling device-chip substrate and converged to the surface of the chip substrate to meet the conditions for forming SPR excitation. The optical coupling device is prepared by cold demolding of liquid polymer material; the optical coupling device is manufactured by shaping a convex surface on the corresponding concave wall of a glass mold, the concave wall mold cavity can be formed on the surface of the substrate by grinding or polishing the mold, and then the liquid polymer material is injected into the concave wall mold cavity, and then it is solidified and demolded at low temperature; The optical coupling device has a preset deformation range from the convex surface to the plane direction; the preset deformation range is 10% d, where d is the height of the optical coupling device.

2. The optical measurement system according to claim 1, characterized in that The polymer material is silicone rubber, polybutadiene or transparent epoxy resin.

3. The optical measurement system according to claim 1, characterized in that: When compressed, the radius of curvature of the optical coupling device changes with the change of the central angle; the central angle is the angle between the convex surface and the vertical central axis of the optical coupling device.

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