Patent ID: 7158284

Claim:
A method for non-invasively probing at least one interface property of a layered structure, wherein the layered structure at least includes a silicon substrate and an oxide layer deposited on the silicon substrate to form a first Si/SiO 2 interface therebetween, comprising the steps of: a. exposing the layered structure to an incident photon beam at an incident angle to produce a reflection beam, wherein the incident photon beam redistributes carriers across the first Si/SiO 2 interface and induces an electric field at the first Si/SiO 2 interface, and the reflection beam comprises a fundamental mode of the incident photon beam and second harmonic generation signals; b. optically separating the second harmonic generation signals from the reflection beam; c. measuring intensities of the second harmonic generation signals; and d. identifying an initial second harmonic generation intensity and a time-evolution of the second harmonic generation intensity from the measured second harmonic generation intensities so as to determine the at least one interface property of the layered structure, wherein the initial second harmonic generation intensity includes a contribution of the incident photon beam to the second harmonic generation, and differences between the measured second harmonic generation intensities and the initial second harmonic generation intensity includes a contribution of the induced electric field at the first Si/SiO 2 interface to the second harmonic generation.