Characterization of pulsed-laser deposited amorphous diamond films by spectroscopic ellipsometry

G. E. Jellison, D. B. Geohegan, D. H. Lowndes, A. A. Puretzky, V. I. Merkulov

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Spectroscopic ellipsometry is used to characterize amorphous diamond, also known as tetrahedral amorphous carbon, (ta-C) films grown by pulsed laser ablation. The ellipsometry data is collected with the two-modulator generalized ellipsometer, which measures all three parameters required to characterize isotropic samples, as well as additional parameters used to characterize strain-induced birefringence of the focusing optics. Lenses are used to focus the light spot to an ellipse 0.7×2.0 mm2, allowing us to perform several ellipsometric measurements across the profile of ta-C films grown on 7.5 cm diameter Si wafers. The spectroscopic ellipsometry data are fit using a model of the ta-C dielectric function based on the Tauc band edge and the Lorentz expression of the dielectric function for an ensemble of atoms. These fits are used to determine the thicknesses of the rough surface layer, the ta-C film, and the interface layer, as well as the energy gap of the film. Comparisons are made with fits to an earlier formulation due to Forouhi and Bloomer. In addition to being Kramer-Kronig consistent, the Tauc-Lorentz formulation fits the ta-C data better.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)349-354
Number of pages6
JournalMaterials Research Society Symposium - Proceedings
Volume526
DOIs
StatePublished - 1998
EventProceedings of the 1998 MRS Spring Meeting - San Francisco, CA, USA
Duration: Apr 13 1998Apr 16 1998

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