Spectroscopic ellipsometry of very rough surfaces

Abstract

This work expands the use of spectroscopic ellipsometry to surfaces with roughness that is similar to or larger than the wavelength of the incident light. By using a custom-built spectroscopic ellipsometer and varying the angle of incidence, we were able to differentiate between the diffusely scattered and specularly reflected components. Our findings demonstrate that measuring the diffuse component at specular angles is highly beneficial for ellipsometry analysis, as its response is equivalent to that of a smooth material. This allows for accurate determination of the optical constants in materials with extremely rough surfaces. Our results have the potential to broaden the scope and utility of the spectroscopic ellipsometry technique.

Study of Tunable Dielectric Permittivity of PBDB-T-2CL Polymer in Ternary Organic Blend Thin Films Using Spectroscopic Ellipsometry

“…Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) can be used to analyze almost any transparent thin film and is able to measure layers as thin as the wavelength of the probing light itself down to less than a single atomic layer, beyond the thickness limits of equivalent ellipsometry- and reflectometry-based techniques, and is especially helpful for ultra-thin film applications (100 nm) [ 19 ]. Spectroscopic ellipsometry provides extremely accurate, reproducible measurements of the dielectric properties of a material, including complex refractive index and dielectric function tensor, and optical constants, in addition to film thickness [ 20 ].…”

Role of Surface Chemistry in Pyrrole Autoxidation

“…Based on these results, we hypothesized that rather than forming as a thin layer, the PPy was nucleating as particles on the PPy surface, which were not detected by SE due to diffuse scattering. 103,104 To confirm the formation of PPy particles, we performed optical microscopy on the samples in the final condition after 8 days of exposure to the model fuel environment. Presented in Figure 5a,b are optical microscopy images of Si-nSiO 2 before and after 8 days of exposure to the model fuel environment, respectively.…”