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Inclined GaSb nanopillars prepared by low energy ion sputtering with oblique ion beam incidence have been characterized by two different Mueller matrix ellipsometric tools. The optical properties of the nanopillars were found to be well described by a uniaxial anisotropic graded effective medium model. The pillar height and inclination angle were determined by fitting the parameters of the effective medium model to spectroscopic (1.44–2.88 eV) Mueller matrix measurements at multiple azimuth sample orientations. A set of different samples with various average pillar height and inclination angle was studied; results from the optical characterization correspond well with those from scanning electron microscopy analysis. For samples with nanopillars inclined by 45° or less, the height could be determined from a single Mueller matrix measurement at only one azimuth orientation, allowing real-time in situ observation of the formation. The nanopillars were also studied using a single wavelength angle resolved Mueller polarimeter, which also can be used to determine height and inclination of the pillars, in addition to validating the optical model over a wide range of incident and azimuth angles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-temperature growth of doped epitaxial silicon layers is a promising way to reduce the cost of p-n junction formation in c-Si solar cells. In this work, we study process of highly doped epitaxial silicon layer growth using in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry. The film was deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on a crystalline silicon substrate at a low substrate temperature of 200 °C. In the deposition process, SiF 4 was used as a precursor, B 2 H 6 as doping gas, and a hydrogen/argon mixture as carrier gas. A spectroscopic ellipsometer with a wide spectral range was used for in situ spectroscopic measurements. Since the temperature during process is 200 °C, the optical functions of silicon differ from these at room temperature and have to be adjusted. Thickness of the epitaxial silicon layer was fitted on in situ ellipsometric data. As a result we were able to determine the dynamics of epitaxial layer growth, namely initial layer formation time and epitaxial growth rate. This study opens new perspectives in understanding and monitoring the epitaxial silicon deposition processes as the model fitting can be applied directly during the growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-situ Mueller matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry was applied for monitoring the silicon nanowire growth by plasma-enhanced vapor-liquid-solid method. The technique is proposed as a real-time, non-destructive, and non-invasive characterization of the deposition process in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition reactor. The data have been taken by spectrally resolved Mueller matrix ellipsometer every 1 min during the 8–10 min long nanowire growth process. We have developed an easy-to-apply optical model to fit the experimental data, which enables to study the evolution of the parameters of the structure during initial stages of the growth. The first results provide information about the effective deposition rate determined from the linear increase of the deposited silicon volume with the deposition time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High sensitivity of spectroscopic ellipsometry and reflectometry for the characterization of thin films can strongly decrease when layers, typically metals, absorb a significant fraction of the light. In this paper, we propose a solution to overcome this drawback using total internal reflection ellipsometry (TIRE) and exciting a surface longitudinal wave: a plasmon-polariton. As in the attenuated total reflectance technique, TIRE exploits a minimum in the intensity of reflected transversal magnetic (TM) polarized light and enhances the sensitivity of standard methods to thicknesses of absorbing films. Samples under study were stacks of three films, ZnO : Al/Ag/ZnO : Al, deposited on glass substrates. The thickness of the silver layer varied from sample to sample. We performed measurements with a UV-visible phase-modulated ellipsometer, an IR Mueller ellipsometer and a UV-NIR reflectometer. We used the variance-covariance formalism to evaluate the sensitivity of the ellipsometric data to different parameters of the optical model. Results have shown that using TIRE doubled the sensitivity to the silver layer thickness when compared with the standard ellipsometry. Moreover, the thickness of the ZnO :Al layer below the silver layer can be reliably quantified, unlike for the fit of the standard ellipsometry data, which is limited by the absorption of the silver layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Phase Modulated Spectroscopic Ellipsometry as well as Liquid Crystal Mueller Matrix Polarimetry in reflection and in transmission configurations were used to systematically study five types of anisotropic polymer sheets: polyethylene-terephtalate (PET), polyethylene-naphtalate (PEN), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP) and triacetylcellulose (TAC). The measurements were performed at different sample azimuths in two ellipsometric configurations giving access to both standard ellipsometric data as well as to the entire Mueller matrix. Biaxial anisotropy, a common characteristic to all polymer types, as well as the in-depth optical properties, inhomogeneity present in the sheets were clearly evidenced. The data were interpreted in terms of a model consisting of a thick substrate (several microns) coated with a simple layer. Both, substrate and layer were anisotropic and characterized by a triplet of principal refractive indexes. The orientation of the principal indexes of the bulk and the layer were different revealing the in-depth inhomogeniety of the samples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Crystallinity and material quality of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) films change during their growth, leading to a complex material structure. In order to identify the composition of those inhomogeneous films, deposited on iron–nickel (Fe–Ni) alloy substrates, in-situ ellipsometric data were taken during the thin film growth at regular time intervals. The analysis of the in-situ data taken at the photon energy range between 2.8 and 4.5 eV allowed us to identify the composition of the thin film surface as it grows. The time evolution of the crystalline and amorphous silicon fractions and the surface roughness shows clearly three important phases of the thin film growth: the initial growth of nanocone shaped crystals, the collision phase of neighboring crystals, and the semi-homogeneous material growth until the end of the deposition. The analysis of in-situ data taken during depositions on three different Fe–Ni alloy substrates with different crystal sizes and surface textures shows significant differences in the crystalline silicon fraction of deposited films. The proposed method provides the means to analyze the growth process on flexible Fe–Ni alloy substrates and to optimize the quality of deposited μc-Si:H films by finding the most suitable Fe–Ni substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]