Paper EL-ThP4
An Innovative High-speed Spectroscopic Ellipsometry and its Novel Applications

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 6:00 pm, Room Hall D

We developed an innovative high-speed spectroscopic ellipsometer. It analyzes the spectrums obtained from the polarization interference occurring between two multiple-order retarders which snapshot the wavelength distribution of the sample’s spectroscopic polarization parameters. This novel spectroscopic ellipsometer can measure the thickness and optical constants of thin films at a dramatically fast speed. Its acquisition time is as short as 10 ms. It does not require the conventional complex mechanical or active components for polarization-control, such as a rotating compensator and an electro-optical modulator. It can open great opportunities for new applications of the spectroscopic ellipsometry in which the compactness, the simplicity and the rapid response are extremely important. For example, it was integrated into the deposition tool and successfully measured thin films in the vacuum chamber.

This paper describes the principle, system configuration and our innovative efforts on developing the compact high-speed spectroscopic ellipsometer. Some of the novel applications will be also introduced, such as the ALD, EUV, OLED and other measurement data for the semiconductor, flat panel display and semiconductor industries.