Thin film thickness measurements using Scanning White Light Interferometry

Abstract

Scanning White Light Interferometry is a well-established technique for providing accurate surface roughness measurements and three dimensional topographical images. Here we report on the use of a variant of Scanning White Light Interferometry called coherence correlation interferometry which is now capable of providing accurate thickness measurements from transparent and semi-transparent thin films with thickness below 1 μm. This capability will have many important applications which include measurements on optical coatings, displays, semiconductor devices, transparent conducting oxides and thin film photovoltaics. In this paper we report measurements of thin film thickness made using coherence correlation interferometry on a variety of materials including metal-oxides (Nb2O5 and ZrO2), a metal-nitride (SiNx:H), a carbon-nitride (SiCxNy:H) and indium tin oxide, a transparent conducting oxide. The measurements are compared with those obtained using spectroscopic ellipsometry and in all cases excellent correlation is obtained between the techniques. A key advantage of this capability is the combination of thin film thickness and surface roughness and other three-dimensional metrology measurements from the same sample area.