Spectroscopic Ellipsometers are optical thin film measurement tools for determining film thickness and optical constants (n,k) of thin film structures. They are widely used in the microelectronics, display, photonics, photovoltaics, lighting, optical and functional coating, biotechnology industries.
Advantages of Ellipsometry:
- Non-destructive technique
- No sample preparation
- Rapid measurement and simple to operate
- No reference measurement needed
- Very sensitive for ultra-thin film measurement down to 1Å
- Single and multi layer thin film measurement
- Information rich for layer stack description (interface, roughness, film gradient, film anisotropy etc...)
- Direct and accurate determination of optical constants (n,k)
When compared with other optical metrology instruments the unique strength of spectroscopic ellipsometers are based on their highly precise and simple experimental measurements plus physical and material information derived from optical constants characterization.
Spectroscopic Ellipsometers are the tool of choice for measuring optical constants (n,k) (also called complex dielectric constants) of materials. The precision of optical constants are in the range of 10-3.
Through measurement of optical constants, SE can provide detailed knowledge of:
- Electronic properties of material such es band gap Eg
- Absorption coefficient α
- Optical gradient and anisotropy of materials.
