| AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Spectroscopic Ellipsometry Focus Topic | Friday Sessions |
| Session EL+AS+EM+MS+PS+TF-FrM |
| Session: | Spectroscopic Ellipsometry: Future Directions and New Techniques |
| Presenter: | Tino Hofmann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln |
| Authors: | T. Hofmann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln D. Schmidt, University of Nebraska-Lincoln A. Boosalis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln P. Kühne, University of Nebraska-Lincoln R. Skomski, University of Nebraska-Lincoln C.M. Herzinger, J.A. Woollam Co., Inc. J.A. Woollam, J.A. Woollam Co., Inc. M. Schubert, University of Nebraska-Lincoln E. Schubert, University of Nebraska-Lincoln |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Sculptured thin films (STFs) present an interesting class of self-organized, artificially made materials with three-dimensional, highly spatially coherent arrangements of nanostructures. Contemporary interest in materials for terahertz (THz) electronic, optoelectronic, and optical applications is redrawing attention to STFs that may enable designed optical properties for the THz frequency region.
We report on the anisotropic optical dielectric functions of a metal (cobalt) slanted columnar thin film deposited by electron-beam glancing angle deposition for the THz frequency domain using generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry. A simple anisotropic Bruggeman effective medium dielectric function homogenization approach is successfully employed to describe the observed optical response. This approach describes isolated, electrically conductive columns which render the thin film biaxial (orthorhombic). The anisotropy induced by the columnar film structure is very large. The anisotropic Bruggeman effective medium approach predicts upon slight modifications of Drude, fraction and/or depolarization parameters that targeted optical properties of STF in the THz range can be achieved by variation of slanting angle, lateral column density, and material.