Open AccessHigh-resolution subsurface microscopy of CMOS integrated circuits using radially polarized light
Author(s) -
Marius Rutkauskas,
Carl Farrell,
C. Dorrer,
K. L. Marshall,
Ted Lundquist,
P. Vedagarbha,
Derryck T. Reid
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
optics letters/optics index
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.524
H-Index - 272
eISSN - 1071-2763
pISSN - 0146-9592
DOI - 10.1364/ol.40.005502
Subject(s) - optics , numerical aperture , polarization (electrochemistry) , linear polarization , microscopy , radial polarization , near field scanning optical microscope , materials science , circular polarization , physics , optical microscope , laser , scanning electron microscope , laser beams , laser beam quality , wavelength , chemistry , microstrip
Under high numerical aperture (NA) conditions, a linearly polarized plane wave focuses to a spot that is extended along the E-field vector, but radially polarized light is predicted to form a circular spot whose diameter equals the narrower dimension obtained with linear polarization. This effect provides an opportunity for improved resolution in high-NA microscopy, and here we present a performance study of subsurface two-photon optical-beam-induced current solid-immersion-lens microscopy of a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor integrated circuit, showing a resolution improvement by using radially polarized illumination. By comparing images of the same structural features we show that radial polarization achieves a resolution of 126 nm, while linear polarization achieves resolutions of 122 and 165 nm, depending on the E-field orientation. These results are consistent with the theoretically expected behavior and are supported by high-resolution images which show superior feature definition using radial polarization.