Spectral interferometric technique to measure the ellipsometric phase of a thin-film structure

Abstract

A two-step white-light spectral interferometric technique is used to retrieve the ellipsometric phase of a thin-film structure from the spectral interferograms recorded in a polarimetry configuration with a birefringent crystal. In the first step, the phase difference between p- and s-polarized waves propagating in the crystal alone is retrieved. In the second step, the additional phase change that the polarized waves undergo on reflection from the thin-film structure is retrieved. The new method is used in determining the thin-film thickness from ellipsometric phase measured for SiO2 thin film on a Si substrate in a range from 550to900 nm. The thicknesses of three different samples obtained are compared with those resulting from polarimetric measurements, and good agreement is confirmed.