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Ellipsometry

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Comprehensive Treatise of Electrochemistry

Abstract

The term ellipsometry means analysis of the change in the polarization state of a light beam when it is reflected from a surface. It is therefore a kind of reflectance spectroscopy in which complete information about the reflected light is obtained. The term became necessary to distinguish the technique from other more rudimentary kinds of reflectance spectroscopy where the polarization state is ignored or where incomplete information is obtained.

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Abbreviations

d:

thickness of a film

D:

phase delay of light

E :

Jones vector characterizing a pure polarization state

E†:

Hermitian adjoint of the Jones vector

E*:

complex conjugate of the Jones vector E

Ex,Ey :

instantaneous values of the electric field in the direction Jt and y

|Ex|,|Ey|:

amplitudes of electric field

Eip,Eis :

complex amplitude of a beam incident in the planes parallel and perpendicular to the plane of incidence

Etp,Ets :

complex amplitudes of the transmitted beam

I:

intensity of a beam of light

Imax :

maximum intensity of a light beam

J:

coherency matrix derived from the Jones vector

k1 :

extinction coefficient i.e., the complex part of the refractive index of substance 1

M:

Mueller matrix representing a depolarizing or nondepolarizing system

n1 :

real part of the refractive index of substance 1

N1 :

complex refractive index of substance 1

P:

degree of polarization

rp,rs :

complex Fresnel reflection coefficient in directions parallel and perpendicular to the plane of incidence

S:

Stokes vector composed of four real elements S0, Su S2, S3 representing any state of polarized or unpolarized light

T:

Jones matrix representing a non-depolarizing optical system

t :

time

tp,t:

complex Fresnel transmission coefficients

v 1 :

volume fraction of substance 1 in a composite film

α1 :

absorption coefficient of substance 1

Г:

surface excess of an adsorbed species

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Southampton University, Southampton SO9 5NH, England

    Robert Greef

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  1. Robert Greef
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

    Ralph E. White  & J. O’M. Bockris  & 

  2. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Brian E. Conway

  3. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Ernest Yeager

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© 1984 Plenum Press, New York

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Greef, R. (1984). Ellipsometry. In: White, R.E., Bockris, J.O., Conway, B.E., Yeager, E. (eds) Comprehensive Treatise of Electrochemistry. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2679-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2679-3_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9667-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2679-3

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