Optical microscopy–based thickness estimation in thin GaSe flakes

Abstract

We have implemented three different optical methods to quantitatively assess the thickness of thin GaSe flakes transferred on both transparent substrates, like Gel-Film, and SiO2/Si substrates. We show how their apparent color can be an efficient way to make a quick, rough estimation of the thickness of the flakes. This method is more effective for SiO2/Si substrates as the thickness-dependent color change is more pronounced on these substrates than on transparent substrates. On the other hand, for transparent substrates, the transmittance of the flakes in the blue region of the visible spectrum can be used to estimate the thickness. We find that the transmittance of flakes in the blue part of the spectrum decreases at a rate of 1.2%/nm. On SiO2/Si, the thickness of the flakes can be accurately determined by fitting optical contrast spectra to a Fresnel law-based model. Finally, we also show how the quantitative analysis of transmission mode optical microscopy images can be a powerful method to quickly probe the environmental degradation of GaSe flakes exposed to aging conditions.