Polarized Light Scattering by Microroughness and Small Defects in Dielectric Layers

Published

June 1, 2001

Author(s)

Thomas A. Germer

Abstract

The polarization of light scattered by the surface of a material contains information that can be used to identify the sources for that scatter. In this paper, theories for light scattering from interfacial roughness of a dielectric layer and from defects in that dielectric layer are reviewed. Methods for calculating the Mueller matrix on Stokes vector for scatter from multiple sources and for decomposing a Stokes vector into contributions from two non-depolarizing scattering sources are derived. The theories are evaluated for a specific model sample geometry. Results show that some incident polarizations are more effective that others at discriminating amongst scattering sources, with s-polarized light being least effective. The polarization of light scattered from interfacial roughness depends upon the relative roughness of the two interfaces and the degree of correlation between the two interfaces. The scattering from defects in the film depends upon the depth of the defect and differs from that from any one of the cases of interfacial roughness. Scattering from defects randomly distributed in the film and for small dielectric permittivity variations in the film are also calculated

Citation

Journal of the Optical Society of America A-Optics Image Science and Vision

Volume

18

Issue

No. 6

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

bidirectional ellipsometry, defects, microroughness, polarimetry, scatter, surfaces, thin films

Citation

Germer, T. (2001), Polarized Light Scattering by Microroughness and Small Defects in Dielectric Layers, Journal of the Optical Society of America A-Optics Image Science and Vision (Accessed November 23, 2024)