Choosing Techniques for the Optical Characterization of Thin Films

by Ivan Ohlidal & Daniel Franta SPIE Newsroom, accessed 21 Sep 2006 The optical properties of thin films are very important for many applications, including interference devices, as well as optoelectronics, integrated optics, solar power engineering, microelectronics, and optical sensor technology. The end application of a film determines the reflectance and transmittance properties required during fabrication. Numerous methods are used for characterization and these can be classified in the following categories: spectrophotometric, ellipsometric, interferometric, photothermal, and combined methods. We describe these methods, and how they are best used, briefly here. Read more