Spectroscopic ellipsometry using the grating division-of-amplitude photopolarimeter (G-DOAP)

Spectroscopic ellipsometric (SE) measurements obtained using the grating division-of-amplitude photopolarimeter (G-DOAP) are presented. G-DOAP measures all four Stokes parameters of arbitrarily polarized light over the full spectrum (550-940 nm in the present case), with no moving parts or modulators in less than 1 s. It serves as the reflected-light polarization analyzer of an SE system in which the incident polarization state is fixed, thus facilitating time-resolved SE measurements. SE measurements were performed on silicon wafers with a single oxide layer over a range of incidence angles, incident linear polarization azimuths and oxide-film thicknesses. Methods used to analyze the SE data in the presence of apparent depolarization by thick-oxide wafers are presented. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.