INFLUENCE OF INCOHERENT - SUPERPOSITION OF LIGHT ON ELLIPSOMETRIC COEFFICIENTS

Reflections from the back surface of a transparent substrate influence the evaluation of optical constants of thin films from ellipsometric measurements. If the thickness of the substrate is large compared with the coherence length of the Light, the relative phase between the p a nd s mode, which commonly is measured by ellipsometry, cannot be defin ed properly. We show how the reflections from the back surface of the substrate are taken into account in ellipsometric measurements by calc ulating the intensities of reflections for arbitrary angles of polariz ation. Applications of the new method, such as transmittance ellipsome try, ellipsometry at the back surface of the substrate, and the determ ination of the optical constants at the substrate-layer interface, are compared with measurements. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America