Waveform analysis with optical multichannel detectors: Applications for rapid-scan spectroscopic ellipsometry.

A unique rapid-scanning ellipsometer employing a rotating polarizer optical configuration and a multichannel detector for a 1.5–4.5 eV spectral range, has been developed recently for real time studies of film growth and surfaces. This is a new application of the photodiode array-based optical multichannel detector that entails waveform analysis of the incident irradiance at each photon energy. For accurate ellipsometric spectra {ψ(hν),Δ(hν)}, the raw data in the form of photon counts, integrated over four or more equal sectors of polarizer rotation, must be corrected for systematic errors originating from the detection system. Simple procedures are described to characterize and correct for the most significant errors including detection system nonlinearity, image persistence, and scattered stray light in the spectrograph/detector enclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]