Over the last few weeks, we’ve made significant improvements to both the hardware and software of our Snapshot ellipsometer, and we are now working on conducting Variable Angle Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (VASE) measurements using a snapshot measurements.

Here are some videos we collected today. We captured 35 different angles of incidence (ranging from 50º to 85º at  1º increments). The total measurement time is approximately 20 seconds, during which the ellipsometer gets 35 datasets with an spectral range from 390nm and 870nm.

This is all  data collected in this video and fitted together with Woollam’s CompleteEase software.

The next video shows similar data, but this time using a sample with a thicker layer of thermal SiO2 (990nm). While this type of sample isn’t optimal for a snapshot ellipsometer—as the increased thickness generates rather high-frequency oscillations—a successful measurement and data fit are still  possible.

This instrument can collect a ton of data in almost no time, but engineering the hardware and software to make is not easi task (aligment must be keep!).