Methods and apparatus for complete ellipsometry (review)

To monitor the structure of near-surface layers of ordered crystalline structures and their impurity composition, optical methods turn out to be useful. In this paper, the authors analyze complete ellipsometry, a method enabling the determination of the complete Stokes vector of the reflected light or all elements of the Muller matrix of the surface under study. It is significant that this measurement method is contact-free and non-destructive (unlike ionic and electronic methods) and can be employed in a wide range of temperatures in a vacuum and in corrosive media. In addition, the determining role of the surface layer of the object under study in the formation of the reflected wave and the concomitant high sensitivity of its polarization to structural changes in this layer make ellipsometry one of the basic methods for studying thin - from 0.1 to 20 nm - surface films and boundaries between media.