Patent ID: 8059276
Filing Date: 2011-11-15
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of analyzing physical and optical properties of a textured sample surface comprising: a) providing a spectroscopic ellipsometer system comprising: said spectroscopic ellipsometer optionally further comprising at least one beam intensity controller selected from the group consisting of: b) positioning a sample having a textured surface onto said stage with the texture surface facing away from said stage; c) causing a spectroscopic beam of electromagnetic radiation, provided by said source of a spectroscopic beam of electromagnetic radiation, to follow a beam locus and pass through said polarizer, impinge on and reflect from said textured sample surface at a location thereupon, pass through said analyzer and enter said detector, said beam of electromagnetic radiation also affected by the at least one selected beam intensity controller; d) effecting a stage tilt to orient said textured sample surface in a plane oriented at between 10-90 degrees with respect to the plane of said stage frame; e) collecting data provided by said detector; and f) analyzing collected detector data to determine physical and/or optical properties of said textured sample surface; said method being characterized in that, at the location on said textured sample at which said beam of electromagnetic radiation impinges, there is identified a perpendicular to said surface, in which a plane-of-incidence is defined as a plane including both said spectroscopic beam locus and said perpendicular to said textured surface at said location whereat said beam impinges; and in which an angle-of-incidence is defined as that angle between said spectroscopic beam locus and said normal to said textured surface at said location whereat said beam impinges; and said method comprises, while substantially maintaining said angle-of-incidence, causing the sample to tilt so that said perpendicular to said textured sample surface at the location on said textured sample at which said spectroscopic beam of electromagnetic radiation impinges is not in said defined plane-of-incidence, while data is collected in step e; and g) performing at least one selection from the group consisting of: storing at least some data provided by said data detector in machine readable media; analyzing at least some of the data provided by said data detector and storing at least some of the results of said analysis in machine readable media; displaying at least some data provided by said data detector by electronic and/or non-electronic means; analyzing at least some of the data provided by said data detector and displaying at least some of the results of said analysis by electronic and/or non-electronic means; causing at least some data provided by said data detector to produce a signal which is applied to provide a concrete and tangible result; and analyzing at least some of the data provided by said data detector and causing at least some thereof to produce a signal which is applied to provide a concrete and tangible result.