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Method of characterizing a beam of electromagnetic radiation in ellipsometer and the like systems

  • US 9,952,141 B1
  • Filed: 06/22/2016
  • Issued: 04/24/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2015
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of directly characterizing samples with a beam of electromagnetic radiation, which does not require use of a separately investigated diffraction producing structured sample, comprising the steps of:

  • a) providing a source of a beam of electromagnetic radiation and considering a beam produced thereby as a composite of a plurality of spatially distributed beam rays;

    b) causing said produced beam of electromagnetic radiation to pass through a polarization state generator and become a polarized beam of electromagnetic radiation;

    c) causing the resulting polarized electromagnetic beam to interact with a non-structured calibration sample at an effective set central ray angle of incidence, and an effective set central ray plane of incidence, and then enter a polarization state detector prior to a data detector, in which data detector data is produced;

    d) for each of the plurality of spatially distributed beam rays performing a calibration procedure that effectively treats each beam ray as a separate source of electromagnetic radiation, said calibration procedure involving a simultaneous regression of said data produced in step c) onto a mathematical model of said calibration sample and of mathematical matrix representations that account for all other beam affecting elements with which said beam interacts for each beam ray, such that said values for parameters in mathematical matrix representations that account for all other beam affecting elements for each beam ray with which said beam interacts, are established and fixed;

    e) replacing said calibration sample with a sample and causing a polarized electromagnetic beam produced as in step b) to interact with said sample at an effective set central ray angle of incidence, and an effective set central ray plane of incidence, and then enter a polarization state detector prior to a data detector, in which data detector data is produced;

    f) performing a simultaneous regression of said data acquired in step e) onto a mathematical model for said sample and said calibrated mathematical matrix representations that account for all other beam affecting elements with which said beam interacts, for each of said plurality of beam rays, to arrive at values for parameters in said sample characterizing mathematical model.

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