White light interferometer: applications in research and industry

Abstract

Applications of interferometer are countless both in the research and commercial world. Laser sources offer precise measurements of relative path difference between two interfering beams. An exciting example is LIGO (laser Interferometer for Gravitational Observatory), which is aiming to resolve length change as small as 10-19 m over a 4 km length for detection of gravitational waves. However, laser is a disadvantage for microscopic imaging and surface topography applications usually required in semiconductor industry. A different approach for microscopy is to use white light in place of laser. White light due to its limited temporal coherence offers a multitude of benefits for imaging applications. An immediate benefit from white light is the sharp localisation of interference fringe that makes the 3D topography construction or OCT (Optical Coherence Topography) realisable using a Scanning White Light Interferometer (SWLI) imager. In Mirau Mode, SWLI performs high resolution imaging; whereas in Michelson mode Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (FTS) is realised. SWLI can easily be modified into PUPS (Pupil Plane SWLI) for Ellipsometry. Superimposing Michelson Interferometer known as VISAR (Velocity Interferometer System for Any reflector) can form interference fringes even in presence of wide angle light scattered from a moving illuminated object. This paper describes work undertaken at Nanometrics (UK) on simulation of SWLI fringes including high Numerical Aperture (NA) applications, thin film characterisation, OCT generation and Zemax modelling of compact dispersion-free vibration-immune Fourier-Transformed spectrometer. VISAR as a modified Mach-Zehnder Interferometer is also discussed based on the work at Rutherford-Appleton laboratory (UK).