Remotely Controlled Ellipsometer
INSTRUCTIONS TO ACCESS THE REMOTELY CONTROLLED ELLIPSOMETER
- Download and install on your computer the National Instruments LabVIEW Run-Time Engine (version 2018 32 bit).
- Open the following Internet Browser:
WINDOWS 10 or lower
Internet Explorer (version 5.5 and greater). Preferred.
Alternatively you can use Chrome (only up to version 41), Mozilla (only up to version 50), Netscape (version 4.7 and greater) or Opera.
The browsers’ choice is limited because the LabVIEW software controlling the ellipsometer requires the use of NPAPI plugins to embed the LabVIEW window into the HTML page.
WINDOWS 10 or 11
Make use of the web browser EDGE, which however must be set to operate in the INTERNET EXPLORER (IE) mode.
Instructions to open the webpage in the IE mode on Edge:- Update Edge to the latest version (preferred) or to a version greater than 77.00.
- If not installed or not working, restore IE11 as explained in the following (in Windows 11 IE is already included into Edge and you can skip this point):
https://docs.microsoft.com/it-IT/troubleshoot/browsers/how-to-repair-or-reinstall-ie
Note: for the first access to the ellipsometer, it is recommended the Internet Explorer browser to ensure the installation of all the requested components. - Open Edge.
- Click on “…” in the upper right side of the screen and click on “Settings”.
- Select the tab “Default Browser”.
- Activate the Internet Explore mode.
- Open the ellipsometer webpage.
- If the LabVIEW interface is not yet loaded, click on “…” and select “Refresh the page in IE mode” (depending on the Edge version, the options could be in the menu “other Instruments”).
- Disable the security check on the web page.
- If the message “ALT 14.00” appears, refresh the page.
To the second access, the page should be loaded already in the IE mode (if not, click on the IE icon in the URL bar and active the option “Open this page in IE mode next time”).
Mac OS X
Installation of the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine on Mac OS X should install a plugin to \Library\Internet Plug-Ins. This will enable a user to launch a LabVIEW Run-Time window by clicking on an area in the HTML page, but will not embed the LabVIEW window into the HTML page itself. Since the LabVIEW window is not actually embedded in the browser, any browser for Mac OS X should work with LabVIEW Remote Front Panels, including: Safari, Internet Explorer 5.5 and greater, Netscape 6.1 and, greater, Opera. If you need the Remote Front Panel plugin for Mac OS X download the file Mac OS X RFP Plugins.zip here.
Copy the appropriate plugin to \Library\Internet Plug-Ins.
- Make sure that your Firewall and your Anti-Virus program do not block the execution of the plug-in.
- Click on the button:
When connecting for the first time, the webpage might ask to install an Active X control. Accept. If during the Active X installation there is an error, don’t worry, press ok and go ahead. - Access to the remotely controlled ellipsometer. There are several possible cases:
- You are the first in the queue → you can control and perform your experiments for 30 minutes
- You are the first of the queue and nobody else queuing → you get control and have an unlimited time to perform your experiments
- You are queued → you can display what is going on but you have no control