The analysis of critical dimensions of nanostructured areas should ideally give both their size with nanometer resolution and the size distribution over a large area, two contradicting goals for most microscopic techniques. Here, we demonstrate that Mueller-matrix metrology is a fast and nondestructive technique able to identify deviations, as small as 1 to 2 nm, from the desired shape and the statistical distribution of sizes on a potentially unlimited area. Tiny shape deviations are accessible from Mueller-matrix measurements over a complete azimuthal rotation after the subsequent differential decomposition of the matrices and elucidated from small anisotropies. The size distribution is hidden in the depolarization and is extracted by comparing the simulated and measured sum-decomposed Mueller matrices. This study especially demonstrates that depolarization concealed in measured Mueller matrices contains valuable information about the sample.
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5 August 2019
Research Article|
August 08 2019
Mueller matrix metrology: Depolarization reveals size distribution
Ievgen Voloshenko;
Ievgen Voloshenko
1Physikalisches Institut and Stuttgart Research Center of Photonic Engineering, SCoPE,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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Bruno Gompf;
Bruno Gompf
a)
1Physikalisches Institut and Stuttgart Research Center of Photonic Engineering, SCoPE,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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Audrey Berrier
;
Audrey Berrier
1Physikalisches Institut and Stuttgart Research Center of Photonic Engineering, SCoPE,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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Martin Dressel
;
Martin Dressel
1Physikalisches Institut and Stuttgart Research Center of Photonic Engineering, SCoPE,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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Gabriel Schnoering
;
Gabriel Schnoering
1Physikalisches Institut and Stuttgart Research Center of Photonic Engineering, SCoPE,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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Marcus Rommel;
Marcus Rommel
2
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research
, Heisenbergstrasse 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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Jürgen Weis
Jürgen Weis
2
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research
, Heisenbergstrasse 1, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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Appl. Phys. Lett. 115, 063106 (2019)
Article history
Received:
March 01 2019
Accepted:
July 05 2019
Connected Content
A companion article has been published:
Mueller matrix metrology for measuring the critical dimensions of nanostructures
Citation
Ievgen Voloshenko, Bruno Gompf, Audrey Berrier, Martin Dressel, Gabriel Schnoering, Marcus Rommel, Jürgen Weis; Mueller matrix metrology: Depolarization reveals size distribution. Appl. Phys. Lett. 5 August 2019; 115 (6): 063106. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5094409
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