Patent ID: 8908180
Filing Date: 2014-12-09
Classification: G01J,G02B

Abstract:
1. An amplitude and phase polarimetric measurement device of the ellipsometric measurement or Mueller ellipsometry measurement or scatterometric measurement type, said polarimetric measurement device having a microscopic resolution and comprising: an excitation part comprising: a light source capable of emitting an incident light beam over a wavelength domain, and a polarization state generator capable of generating an incident optical beam having a spatially uniform polarization state distribution; an optical focussing device having an optical axis to focus said incident light beam on the surface of a sample to be measured; an analysis part comprising: an optical collection device for collecting the light beam reflected or transmitted by the sample, said optical collection device having an optical axis; a polarization state analyzer capable of receiving the optical beam collected by said optical collection device and of analyzing the polarization state of said optical beam according to a cartesian polarization state basis; a detector capable of receiving said light beam that is polarization analyzed by the analyzer; said polarization state generator and/or said polarization state analyzer further comprising a polarization modulator, wherein: said optical focussing device is arranged so that said optical axis of said optical focussing device is merged with the normal to the sample; said optical collection device being arranged so that said optical axis of said optical collection device is merged with the optical axis of said reflected or transmitted light beam; the excitation part comprises a first polarization conversion device arranged between said polarization state generator and said optical focussing device, said first polarization conversion device being oriented so as to receive said incident optical beam of spatially uniform polarization and to convert it into a beam with a polarization vector distribution of cylindrical or semi-cylindrical symmetry about the optical axis and according to which each polarization vector comprises a linear combination of a non-zero radial component and a non-zero azimuthal component; and the analysis part comprises a second polarization conversion device arranged between said optical collection device and said polarization state analyzer, said second polarization conversion device being oriented so as to receive said collected light beam, said second polarization conversion device being capable of converting a beam with a polarization vector distribution of cylindrical symmetry according to which a polarization vector comprises a linear combination of a radial component and an azimuthal component of polarization into a beam with a spatially uniform polarization state distribution.