Ellipsometry

Ellipsometry is an optical technique for investigating the dielectric properties (complex refractive index or dielectric function) of thin films. Ellipsometry can be used to characterize composition, roughness, thickness (depth), crystalline nature, doping concentration, electrical conductivity and other material properties. It is very sensitive to the change in the optical response of incident radiation that interacts with the material being investigated.Typically, the measured signal is the change in polarization as the incident radiation (in a known state) interacts with the material structure of interest (reflected, absorbed, scattered, or transmitted). The polarization change is quantified by the amplitude ratio, Ψ, and the phase difference, Δ (defined below). Because the signal depends on the thickness as well as the materials properties, ellipsometry can be a universal tool for contact free determination of thickness and optical constants of films of all kinds.This technique has found applications in many different fields, from semiconductor physics to microelectronics and biology, from basic research to industrial applications. Ellipsometry is a very sensitive measurement technique and provides unequaled capabilities for thin film metrology. As an optical technique, spectroscopic ellipsometry is non-destructive and contactless. Because the incident radiation can be focused, small sample sizes can be imaged and desired characteristics can be mapped over a larger area (m^2).The one weakness of ellipsometry is the need to model the data. Entire courses are taught in the modeling of the raw data. Models can be physically based on energy transitions or simply free parameters used to fit the data.Upon the analysis of the change of polarization of light, ellipsometry can yield information about layers that are thinner than the wavelength of the probing light itself, even down to a single atomic layer. Ellipsometry can probe the complex refractive index or dielectric function tensor, which gives access to fundamental physical parameters like those listed above. It is commonly used to characterize film thickness for single layers or complex multilayer stacks ranging from a few angstroms or tenths of a nanometer to several micrometers with an excellent accuracy.The name ""ellipsometry"" stems from the fact that Elliptical polarization of light is used. The term ""spectroscopic"" relates to the fact that the information gained is a function of the light's wavelength or energy (spectra). The technique has been known at least since 1888 by the work of Paul Drude, (the term ""ellipsometry"" being first used probably in 1945 ) and has many applications today. A spectroscopic ellipsometer can be found in most thin film analytical labs. Ellipsometry is also becoming more interesting to researchers in other disciplines such as biology and medicine. These areas pose new challenges to the technique, such as measurements on unstable liquid surfaces and microscopic imaging.