Dynamic imaging microellipsometry: theory, system design, and feasibility demonstration

Dynamic imaging microellipsometry (DIM) is a new rapid full-field imaging technique for high spatial resolution studies of thin films. The DIM concept is based on radiometric polarizer, compensator, specimen, and analyzer ellipsometry combined with video and image processing techniques. The theoretical basis for this approach is developed using the Jones vector and matrix formalisms. Basic systems design is presented with error model predictions of ellipsometric accuracies better than 0.1° for full-field Δ and ψ images captured in a few seconds with spatial resolution under 10 μm. Initial feasibility tests have demonstrated interframe discriminations of 0.36° for Δ and 0.082° for ψ.