Ellipsometry and reflectance of inhomogeneous and anisotropic media: a new computationally efficient approach

Abstract

Dielectric multilayer stacks can display anisotropy as well as inhomogeneity along the normal to the substrate. We present two alternative 2 × 2 matrix methods which allow the electromagnetic field to be calculated in such structures in the particular case where p and s polarization are decoupled. Simple iterative formulae are established for the calculation of reflection and transmission coefficients in the homogeneous case. In the inhomogeneous case the iterative formulae are transformed into Ricatti differential equations. Simulations performed with these equations show that single angle of incidence spectroscopic ellipsometry is insentive to the details of weak index profiles in thin films.