Fast and non-destructive determination of active-layer thickness of LR 115 SSNTD using a color commercial document scanner

Measurements using the LR 115 solid-state nuclear track detector (SSNTD) depend critically on the removed thickness of the active layer during etching, which cannot be controlled by the etching period alone. For example, the bulk etch rate depends significantly on the strength of stirring during etching. We propose here a fast, inexpensive and non-destructive method based on a color commercial document scanner to determine the active-layer thickness of the LR 115 SSNTD. We have found a hyperbolic relationship between the optical density at the R band and the thickness of the active layer for LR 115 detector. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.