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Errors in the Measurement of Film Thickness by Multiple-Beam Interferometry

Abstract

THE Tolansky1 method for the measurement of the thickness of thin films by multiple-beam interference techniques is now well established. Briefly, the film, the thickness of which is to be measured, is deposited on a flat, smooth substrate. The film should have a sharp edge so that a step is formed when the film and the adjacent substrate are coated with an opaque, highly reflecting metallic layer. The height of this step is measured by using the highly reflecting layer as one surface of an interferometer and viewing the multiple-beam fringe system by reflexion. Provided that the overlayer assumes the exact contour of the surface, this step-height will give the thickness of the film underneath.

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References

  1. Tolansky, S., “Multiple Beam Interferometry” (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1948).

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  2. Scott, G. D., McLauchlan, T. A., and Sennett, R. S., J. App. Phys., 21, 843 (1950).

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  3. Benjamin, P., Ph.D. Thesis, University of Glasgow (1958).

  4. Weaver, C., and Benjamin, P., J. Phys. Radium. (in the press).

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WEAVER, C., BENJAMIN, P. Errors in the Measurement of Film Thickness by Multiple-Beam Interferometry. Nature 182, 1149–1150 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/1821149b0

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