Abstract

We have tested the validity of the ellipsometric equations for correctly predicting the average thickness of thin, discontinuous, absorbing, inorganic films, by studying the growth of silver sulfide tarnish films on silver. The ellipsometrically determined thicknesses of the tarnish films were in a constant ratio to, and nearly the same as, thicknesses determined by direct measurement with the electron microscope. They actually fell between the values determined by two different electron-microscope methods, one of which should give numbers which are too large and the other numbers which may be too small. We can thus conclude that, at least for thicknesses less than 80 Å, the ellipsometric method, using thick-film indices, gives very nearly correct average values for these discontinuous films.

© 1969 Optical Society of America

Optical Constants of Silver Sulfide Tarnish Films*

J. M. Bennett, J. L. Stanford, and E. J. Ashley
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 60(2) 224-232 (1970)

Determination of Surface-Film Thickness from Shift of Optically Excited Surface Plasma Resonance

J. L. Stanford
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 60(1) 49-53 (1970)

Ellipsometric Method for the Determination of All the Optical Parameters of the System of an Isotropic Nonabsorbing Film on an Isotropic Absorbing Substrate. Optical Constants of Silicon*

K. Vedam, W. Knausenberger, and F. Lukes
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 59(1) 64-71 (1969)

Simultaneous and Independent Determination of the Refractive Index and the Thickness of Thin Films by Ellipsometry*

K. Vedam, R. Rai, F. Lukes, and R. Srinivasan
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 58(4) 526-532 (1968)

Multiple-Angle-of-Incidence Ellipsometry of Very Thin Films*

J. A. Johnson and N. M. Bashara
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 61(4) 457-462 (1971)