Versatile Polarimetric Platform for Analytical Optical Testing

Description

We will develop a versatile polarimetric platform for analytical optical testing of materials. This platform consists of two instruments: 1) a low cost prototyping/educational single wavelength ellipsometer, and 2) a scientific grade imaging spectroscopic ellipsometer. The development of the low cost instrument will provide a flexible and easily adaptable platform for fast prototyping to assist in the design of advanced instruments to be developed in future projects. More importantly, it will also be developed into educational commercial products in a short-to-medium time-scale. The scientific grade instrument will be able to measure a large range of materials including semiconductors, transparent oxides, and metallic thin films. Furthermore, when coupled with the analytical capabilities previously developed by the proposing team, namely the use of Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) modelling strategy, this instrument can also be used to study the morphology and optical critical dimension of sub-wavelength structured materials including photonic and plasmonic metamaterials. The proposed polarimetric platform will open up the possibility for the future development of much needed capabilities for analytical testing of modern materials. Potential future developments include, for example, i) basic functionality extensions such as automated variable angle of incidence and multichannel spectroscopic capabilities; ii) advanced polarimetric strategies such as dual rotating compensator; iii) extended spectral ranges can be achieved with small adjustments to the proposed platform such as deep ultraviolet (down to 150 nm) and near infrared (up to 2000 nm); iv) high temporal resolution such as pico-second and femto-second time resolved ellipsometry; and v) other spectral ranges, requiring major changes in the platform proposed, such as extension to the mid infrared and terahertz spectral ranges. All these functionalities are much needed for the quantitative analytical characterisation of modern and advanced materials; accordingly they are expected to have high impact in the development of modern commercial products.