Optical Thin-Film Measurements by Ellipsometry

Ellipsometry is an optical measuring method that utilizes the polarization changes that happen whenever light is reflected by (or transmitted through) a surface, e.g. of a bulk material or thin-film. Over time it has gained popularity in semiconductor and optical coating applications due to its higher sensitivity in comparison to traditional reflection measurements.  Therefore, ellipsometry is now used to accurately characterize composition, roughness, thickness, crystalline properties, electrical conductivity, and other material properties of diverse samples.

In the latest release of the fast physical optics software VirtualLab Fusion, 2023.1, the Ellipsometry Analyzer has been added to the ever-increasing array of features available in the software. It provides an easy and straightforward way to investigate the properties of coatings, multi-layer structures and gratings through the application of ellipsometry concepts on the electromagnetic field results produced by the simulation. In addition, it offers the possibility of varying the wavelength and the incidence angle automatically from within the analyzer itself, in order to conveniently generate the typical ellipsometry curves which can, after being fitted to a model, go on to reveal the material properties we seek to obtain from these experiments. You can find below links to the documentation that explains how to work with this new analyzer, as well as an example scenario in which the tool in question is applied to a silicon dioxide coating.