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Polarized Light Scattering and its Application to Microroughness, Particle, and Defect Detection

Published

Author(s)

Thomas A. Germer

Abstract

In this paper, I will discuss the theory and application of polarized light scatter. Recent measurements have shown that some sources of scatter, including microroughness and subsurface defects, have well-defined polarizations for any specific pair of incident-scatter directions. By exploiting this knowledge, polarization techniques offer the possibility for large improvements in the sensitivity to defects and the discrimination of those defects from competing sources of scatter. The theoretical performance of a specific polarized light scattering instrument configuration will be analyzed to illustrate that a factor of 1.4 improvement in the minimum detectable particle or defect size can be readily attained.
Conference Dates
March 23-27, 1998
Conference Title
International Conference on Characterization and Metrology for ULSI Technology

Keywords

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

Citation

Germer, T. (1998), Polarized Light Scattering and its Application to Microroughness, Particle, and Defect Detection, International Conference on Characterization and Metrology for ULSI Technology (Accessed April 19, 2024)
Created March 1, 1998, Updated February 17, 2017