Abstract

The importance of real-time in situ sensors during the fabrication of electron and photon devices is increasing in light of tighter device tolerances, the trends toward larger wafer sizes and in situ, cluster and flexible processing, and the need for submonolayer composition control in heterostructure fabrication and surface passivation. Optical spectroscopies are often excellent diagnostics for practical control of these film processes, as well as for related fundamental and process development studies. They can be sensitive to crucial material and process parameters, and are usually noninvasive and nondestructive. The range of optical spectroscopies of the gas phase, the surface and the substrate that can be used to monitor gas-surface processes are surveyed. Of particular interest in micro- and nanoprocessing are optical probes that can determine the composition in regions near a surface or interface with submonolayer resolution and those that can measure temperature. The fundamental physical mechanisms underlying these applications are discussed.

© 1995 Optical Society of America