Ellipsometry is a powerful technique whereby the change in the polarization of light reflecting off a surface is analyzed to determine the optical and dielectric properties of a thin film. This analysis can yield information about layers that are thinner than the wavelength of the probing light itself, even down to a single atomic layer. Ellipsometry can probe the complex refractive index or dielectric function tensor, which gives access to fundamental physical parameters and is related to a variety of sample properties including thichkness, morphology, crystal quality, chemical composition, or electrical conductivity.

Unlike single-wavelength (laser) ellipsometry which uses a monochromatic light beam, spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) employs broad band light sources which cover a certain spectral range in the infrared, visible or ultraviolet spectral region. SE in these regions studies the refractive index in the transparency or below-band-gap region and electronic properties such as band-to-band transitions or excitons. - Wikipedia

Equipment Information[edit | edit source]

The ellipsometer used is a J.A. Woollam Co., Inc vertical-variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometer (V-VASE). The HS-190 monochromator is a Czerny-Turner Scanning Monochromator with a focal length of 160mm. A VB-400 Controle Module contains the power supply and motor drivers. An AutoRetarder is installed but its use is optional for each test. This device improves the analyzer's accuracy by changing the light entering the detector unit from linearly to circularly polarized.

Equipment Specifications[edit | edit source]

V-VASE with AutoRetarder, NIR, DUV, Focusing, Camera, Variable Angle Spectroscopic Ellipsometer with spectral range from 190-1700 nm.

  • Vertical sample stage with vacuum stage can accommodate up to 200 mm diameter samples (*call for custom sample mounting*)
  • Automated angle of incidence from 20° to 90°.
  • Double-chamber monochromator for superior stray-light rejection.
  • AutoRetarder- provides highest accuracy on any sample. Also allows for advanced measurements like Depolarization, Anisotropy, and Mueller-Matrix.
  • NIR Upgrade – upgrade maximum spectral limit to ~1700nm.
  • DUV Upgrade – upgrade minimum spectral limit to ~190nm.
  • Focusing Upgrade – removable focusing optics to reduce measurement beam diameter to ~100μm (with included 100μm optical fiber). Focusing optics limit the spectral range below 1700 nm and the angle of incidence to 75° and lower.
  • Camera Upgrade – camera with display to view the location of spot on the sample. Actual light beam will not appear on smooth, specular surfaces.

Protocol[edit | edit source]

Turning On (after turning on, wait 20 min before use to allow lamp to warm up)

  • Turn on control box first – In Hardware window, click Initialize to sync the computer to the ellipsometer (software key must be in computer to run WVASE32 program)
  • Press Light button on monochromator followed by Ignite to turn the light on
  • Check to make sure appropriate fibre optic cable is attached – depends on light range/size of beam
  • UV: 200nm - 2100nm (dead range from 1350nm – 1450nm due to water absorption)
  • IR: 270nm – 2300nm

Turning Off

  • Press Light button on monochromator to turn off light, press Light again but not Ignite to leave it off but powered
  • If turning entire system off, turn off light, then monochromator, then control module and vacuum

Calibration (to make sure zero is known for the polarizer and analyzer - should be performed at start of every new testing session)

  • Insert silicon calibration wafer (apply directly from spider case)
  • Click on Align Sample – Calibrate System (default settings are OK)
  • Calibration completed once "acquiring calibration data" progress reaches 100%
  • Click on File – View Log to compare Ps, As values to previous calibrations

Applying Sample

  • Ensure vacuum box is switched on
  • Switch to appropriate vacuum port as labelled on the back. Slits and holes are used for large and small samples respectively
  • Flip switch on ellipsometer from 'vent' to 'vacuum'
  • Use tweezers (pinch tight) through the sample stage groove to apply sample over the vacuum openings

Aligning Sample (performed for every newly placed sample)

  • In Hardware window, click Acquire Data – Alignment
  • Carefully insert alignment detector
  • Align red cross in centre of the four grey boxes on screen by adjusting alignment knobs (two black knobs on back of sample stage) – cross will move around naturally but want it to be close to centre (X and Y values <1 ideally) – press Esc to exit once completed
  • If alignment detector is way off (no or very small grey boxes) one must find the beam manually to get rough sample alignment first
  • Remove alignment detector
  • Align z-axis by adjusting silver knob to maximize the height of the red line on screen (it may gradually rise if the light is recently turned on) – press Esc to exit once completed

Acquiring Data - Spectroscopic Analysis[edit | edit source]

  • Calibrate and align sample
  • In Hardware window, click Acquire Data – Spectroscopic Scan
  • Recommended options:
  • 0.025eV - 0.05eV wavelength intervals
  • 20 Revs/meas. – greater if noisy
  • 3 angles: one below, equal to and above Brewster angle for substrate (53°, 56°, 59° for samples on a glass substrate; 70°, 74°, 78° for samples on a silicon substrate)
  • Dynamic Averaging (100 max)
  • Save File every 15 min (forces to name file and comment initially)
  • More Settings:
  • Track Polarizer On
  • Auto Retarder if delta is expected to go above 180° (best to have it on)
  • Sample Type: Isotropic + depolarization
  • Length: Testing one sample will take 35-50 min (if AutoRetarder is used, 3 angles, 0.025eV wavelength intervals, 1 to 4.5eV range)

Acquiring Data - Reflection and Transmission Analysis[edit | edit source]

  • Calibrate and align sample
  • In Hardware window, click Acquire Data – R+T Data
  • Baseline and data scans
  • Must move slide stage out of way for baseline scan - do so by pushing base of stage back and wedging a thick object (beige sample holder) in between grey z-axis knob and stage
  • Recommended options:
  • 0.05 or 0.1eV intervals in wavelength
  • 20 Revs/meas. – greater if noisy
  • FOR DIRECT TRANSMISSION: set angle from 0 to 0 with a non-zero increment
  • Set angles to match spectroscopic scan angles if combining transmission data to with ellipsometry data (eg. for determining material composition)
  • Save File every 15 min (forces to name file and comment initially)
  • Length: Testing one sample will take about 10-15 minutes

Acquiring Data - Scatterometry Analysis[edit | edit source]

  • Calibrate and align sample
  • In Hardware window, click Acquire Data – R+T Data
  • In Scatterometry:
  • Check Scatterometry Enabled
  • Sweep Detector (detector moves to pick up scattered light)
  • Select area for detector to sweep (ie. -10 to 10 will sweep from 60 to 80 degrees if angle is set to 70) and set interval of measurements
  • Baseline and data scans
  • Must move slide stage out of way for baseline scan - do so by pushing base of stage back and wedging a thick object (beige sample holder) in between grey z-axis knob and stage
  • Recommended options
  • Select one reflection angle (0 to 0 by 1 for normal transmission, 60 to 60 by 1 for scattering at 60 deg reflection angle etc)
  • 0.1eV intervals in wavelength
  • 20 Revs/meas
  • Save File every 15 min (forces to name file and comment initially)
  • Length: Testing one sample will take about 1-1.5 hrs at one angle sweeping from -10 to 10 by 0.2 with given wavelength range measured by 0.1eV<br

Acquiring Data - Scatterometry Analysis for anisotropic samples[edit | edit source]

  • ---

Scatterometry reveals useful information about interaction of light with anisotropic thin films. If samples are optically anisotropic, the angle of incident light and where on the sample the light arrives at matters.

For isotropic samples reflection occurs according to the Snell's law which means the angle of incident equals the angle of reflection. Therefore, when the ellipsometer is in T/R mode, the detector automatically moves to the position that follows Snell's law. In the case of scatterometry in V-VASE, The detector can be moved azimuthally around the sample stage. This is useful for anisotropic samples that might not follow Snell's law and have reflection/transmission occurs in other angles. By moving the detector azimuthally around, those reflected beams can be detected. For different microstructure different scattering at different angles can happen, therefore, the ideal way is that the detector scan 180 degrees in the plane of incidence. However, since V-VASE is not designed primarily for scatterometry, there are some limitations so that the detector cannot scan 180 degrees in the plane of incidence in azimuthally (reflection mode).

The Figure shows schematically the top view from the position of the detector and the incident beam. The closest the detector and the incident beam can reach is at 30 degrees. Thus, the detector can only scan reflected light for (θi -30o)+ 90o degrees azimuthally. The detector is able to measure specular peaks as well as non-specular peaks within this range (shown as red curve in the Figure). However, any scattering that happens (90o - θi)+30o from the side that detector can't cover, will be missed in the acquired data. For high incident angles a wider range can be scanned by the detector. For example, if the angle of incident is 70o, the detector can scan (70o-30o)+90o=130o degrees and start scanning clockwise away from the incident light. For incident angle of 15 degrees the detector can only moves 75o away from the light source.

Because of this limitation, for different incident angles, one has to set the movement of the detector independently.

Top view of V-VASE scatterometer.jpg

Protocol[edit | edit source]

  • ---
  • Calibrate and align sample
  • In Hardware window, click Acquire Data – R+T Data
  • Data type: PR. Refl-P-Pol w/o back side (For this option S-polarized light or unpolarized light can also be used)
  • In Scatterometry:
  • Check Scatterometry Enabled
  • Sweep Detector (detector moves to pick up scattered light)
  • Select area for detector to sweep (Depending on the angle of incidence the area that the detector can sweep varies)
  • Baseline and data scans
  • Must move slide stage out of way for baseline scan - do so by pushing base of stage back and wedging a thick object (beige sample holder) in between grey z-axis knob and stage
  • Select angle of incidence
  • Select wavelength
  • In change window:
  • Check Dynamic Averaging Enabled. "The Dynamic averaging lets WVASE determine the number of analyzer cycles to average by averaging the data until the standard deviation of the noise on the averaged data falls below some cutoff level".
  • Set the maximum number of revolution to 2000.
  • The large number of Max # of Rev will make the experiment time consuming but the data obtained are less noisier. This is useful for observing non-specular peaks that might not be as strong as specular peaks.
FA info icon.svg Angle down icon.svg Page data
Authors Dirk McLaughlin, saba sadeghi
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Translations Korean
Related 1 subpages, 2 pages link here
Aliases QAS Lab: Spectroscopic Ellipsometry, Ellipsometry: QAS Lab
Impact 401 page views
Created January 26, 2010 by Dirk McLaughlin
Modified February 13, 2023 by Felipe Schenone
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