Jiří Vodák

Mapping of properties of thin plasma jet films using imaging spectroscopic reflectometry

The construction of a normal-incidence imaging spectrophotometer for mapping of thin film properties is described. It is based on an on-axis reflective imaging system, utilising a telescope-like arrangement. A charge-coupled device camera is used as the detector, permitting measurements in the spectral range of 275-1100 nm with resolution of 37 mu m. The performance of the instrument is demonstrated by optical characterisation of highly non-uniform thin films deposited from hexamethyldisiloxane on silicon substrates by a single capillary plasma jet at atmospheric pressure. The imaging spectrophotometry is used as a self-sufficient technique for the determination of both the film optical constants and maps of local thickness. The thickness maps are compared with the results of conventional thickness profile characterisation methods, profilometry and atomic force microscopy and the differences and errors are discussed.

Measurement of thickness distribution, optical constants, and roughness parameters of rough nonuniform ZnSe thin films

Epitaxial ZnSe thin films exhibiting two important defects, i.e., boundary roughness and thickness nonuniformity, prepared on GaAs substrates, are optically characterized using a combination of variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry, spectroscopic near-normal reflectometry, and imaging spectroscopic reflectometry (ISR). The influence of boundary roughness is incorporated into optical quantity formulas by the Rayleigh-Rice theory. Thickness nonuniformity is included using averaging of the unnormalized Mueller matrices. The dispersion model of the optical constants of the ZnSe films is based on parametrization of the joint density of electronic states. Very thin overlayers represented by thin films with identically rough boundaries are taken into account on the upper boundaries of the ZnSe films. Standard optical techniques are used to determine the spectral dependencies of the optical constants of the ZnSe films, together with the parameters of roughness and thickness nonuniformity. ISR is then used to find the maps of the local thickness and local rms value of height irregularities. The values of roughness parameters, determined using the standard techniques and ISR, are verified by a comparison with results obtained by atomic force microscopy.

Simultaneous determination of optical constants, local thickness and roughness of ZnSe thin films by imaging spectroscopic reflectometry

A rough non-uniform ZnSe thin film on a GaAs substrate is optically characterised using imaging spectroscopic reflectometry (ISR) in the visible, UV and near IR region, applied as a standalone technique. A global-local data processing algorithm is used to fit spectra from all pixels together and simultaneously determine maps of the local film thickness, roughness and overlayer thickness as well as spectral dependencies of film optical constants determined for the sample as a whole. The roughness of the film upper boundary is modelled using scalar diffraction theory (SDT), for which an improved calculation method is developed to process the large quantities of experimental data produced by ISR efficiently. This method avoids expensive operations by expressing the series obtained from SDT using a double recurrence relation and it is shown that it essentially eliminates the necessity for any speed-precision trade-offs in the SDT calculations. Comparison of characterisation results with the literature and other techniques shows the ability of multi-pixel processing to improve the stability and reliability of least-squares data fitting and demonstrates that standalone ISR, coupled with suitable data processing methods, is viable as a characterisation technique, even for thin films that are relatively far from ideal and require complex modelling.

Possibilities and limitations of imaging spectroscopic reflectometry in optical characterization of thin films

It is possible to encounter thin films exhibiting various defects in practice. One of these defects is area non-uniformity in optical parameters (e.g. in thickness). Therefore it is necessary to have methods for an optical characterization of nonuniform thin films. Imaging spectroscopic reflectometry provides methods enabling us to perform an efficient optical characterization of such films. It gives a possibility to determine spectral dependencies of a local reflectance at normal incidence of light belonging to small areas (37 μm × 37 μm in our case) on these non-uniform films. The local reflectance is measured by individual pixels of a CCD camera serving as a detector of an imaging spectroscopic reflectometer. It is mostly possible to express the local reflectance using formulas corresponding to a uniform thin film. It allows a relatively simple treatment of the experimental data obtained by imaging spectroscopic reflectometry. There are three methods for treating these experimental data in the special case of thickness non-uniformity, i.e. in the case of the same optical constants within a certain area of the film - single pixel imaging spectroscopic reflectometry method, combination of single-pixel imaging spectroscopic reflectometry method and conventional methods (conventional single spot spectroscopic ellipsometry and spectrophotometry), and multi-pixel imaging spectroscopic reflectometry method. These methods are discussed and examples of the optical characterization of thin films non-uniform in thickness corresponding to these methods are presented in this contribution.

Imaging spectroscopic reflectometer based on pellicle beamsplitter

Imaging spectroscopic reflectometry is a technique suitable for measurements of local optical parameters (thickness, refraction index and index of extinction) of non-uniform thin films along their surface. It is usually assumed that gradients of these non-uniformities are reasonably small. A new design of an imaging spectroscopic reflectometer provides the possibility to successfully measure high gradient non-uniformities along relatively large area of a thin film surface. A specialized low cost apparatus was developed to accomplish a higher resolution of surface imaging at the cost of reduction of the spectral range usable. The whole concept of the imaging spectroscopic reflectometer was designed to achieve high light throughput using only prefabricated optical components. Shorter measurement times and lower demands on an imaging camera used were achieved. The imaging spectroscopic reflectometer mentioned above was realized as a compact device with easy calibration and handling. Any monochromator with its output into an optical fiber can be used as a source of light. The potential of the device is demonstrated using samples with high gradients of thickness along their surfaces. A significant improvement in the resolution of thin film interference pattern images was observed in comparison with the same images obtained by means of an older UV-VIS-NIR device.

Optical Characterization of Thin Films by Means of Imaging Spectroscopic Reflectometry

This chapter focuses on optical characterization of thin films by means of non-microscopic imaging spectroscopic reflectometry. This technique is primarily intended for characterization of thin films with an area non-uniformity in their optical properties. An advantage of the technique is the possibility to measure along a relatively large area of the measured films. The motivation for development and exploitation of this technique is also discussed. Essential features and implementation of the technique are given, as well as the basic experimental set-up of imaging spectroscopic reflectometers and the way the experimental data are obtained. The data processing methods are classified based on the purpose of the thin film measurement. Furthermore, this chapter presents examples of results of imaging spectroscopic reflectometry in the field of thin films. At the end of the chapter, potential applications of imaging spectroscopic reflectometry in other tasks are also briefly mentioned.

Scattermeter for measurement of solar cells

Scattermeter II is the second generation device designed and built at The Institute of Physical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology. This device has been designed for measuring the angular distribution of the intensity of electromagnetic radiation scattered from a surface of a solid. In this paper, the basic scheme of Scattermeter II and measuring principles with it are described. The results achieved in electromagnetic radiation scattering from surfaces of selected samples of single crystalline silicon wafers used in solar cells are also presented.

Simultaneous determination of optical constants, local thickness, and local roughness of thin films by imaging spectroscopic reflectometry

A new optical characterization method based on imaging spectroscopic reflectometry (ISR) is presented and illustrated on the characterization of rough non-uniform epitaxial ZnSe films prepared on GaAs substrates. The method allows the determination of all parameters describing the thin films exhibiting boundary roughness and non-uniformity in thickness, i.e. determination of the spectral dependencies of the optical constants, map of local thickness and map of local rms values of heights of the irregularities for the rough boundaries. The local normal reflectance spectra in ISR correspond to small areas (37×37 μm2) on the thin films measured within the spectral range 270{900 nm by pixels of a CCD camera serving as the detector of imaging spectrophotometer constructed in our laboratory. To our experience the small areas corresponding to the pixels are sufficiently small so that the majority of the films can be considered uniform in all parameters within these areas. Boundary roughness is included into the reflectance formulas by means of the scalar diffraction theory (SDT) and the optical constant spectra of the ZnSe films were expressed by the dispersion model based on the parametrization of the joint density of electronic states (PJDOS). In general, there is a correlation between the searched parameters if the individual local reflectance spectra are fitted separately and, therefore, the local reflectance spectra measured for all the pixels are treated simultaneously using so called multi-pixel method in order to remove or reduce this correlation and determine the values of all the parameters with a sufficient accuracy. The results of the optical characterization of the same selected sample of the epitaxial ZnSe thin film obtained using the method presented here and combined method of variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry, spectroscopic reflectometry and single-pixel immersion spectroscopic reflectometry are introduced in the contribution as well.