Patent · US Expired

Simultaneous multiple angle/multiple wavelength ellipsometer and method

US5166752A · kind A · utility

181Cited by
21References
42Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 11, 1990
Grant dateNov 24, 1992
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 11, 2010

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N21/211
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The ellipsometer and method involve directing polarized light for interaction with an optical system under study at different angles of incidence from a single beam of light and detecting the light interacted with the optical system by reflection and/or transmission for each of a plurality of different angles of incidence. The simultaneous illumination of the optical system under study at a whole range of angles of incidence from a single beam of light and the collection a large multiplicity of data from the different angles detected can be accomplished rapidly and easily and with accuracy without scanning and with only one ellipsometer. A lens is used to focus the incoming light to provide the range of different angles of incidence. The range of angles is at least one or two degrees and preferably thirty degrees or more. A second lens refocuses the interacted light to a linear, multi-element detector array which extends in the plane of the incidence. Each of the detector elements detects a narrow range of angles of incidence within the relatively wider range of angles of incidence of the illuminating beam. If the incident illuminating rays are polychromatic and a wavelength disper…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.