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Near‐field nano‐ellipsometer for ultrathin film characterization
Author(s) -
Zhan Q.,
Leger J. R.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2818.2003.01185.x
Subject(s) - ellipsometry , materials science , refractive index , optics , characterization (materials science) , thin film , dielectric , nano , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , physics , composite material
Summary We describe a near‐field ellipsometer for accurate characterization of ultrathin dielectric films. Optical tunnelling mimics the absorption in metallic films, enabling accurate measurement of the refractive index of ultrathin dielectric film. A regression model shows that a refractive index resolution of 0.001 for films as thin as 1 nm is possible. A solid‐immersion nano‐ellipsometer that incorporates this near‐field ellipsometric technique with a solid‐immersion lens is constructed to demonstrate the viability of this technique. Such a nano‐ellipsometer can accurately characterize thin films ranging in thickness from subnanometre to micrometres with potential transverse resolution of the order of 100 nm.