TECHNIQUE MEASURING THICKNESS OF METAL FILM Russian patent published in 2004 - IPC

FIELD: thin film technology, testing thickness of thin metal films applied to substrate of dielectric or other material, microelectronics and optics. SUBSTANCE: technique measuring thickness of metal film includes formation of stepped structure on surface of film which height is equal to thickness of film, deposition by spraying of highly reflective layer of metal on surface of substrate with step and irradiation of film with laser beam of known way length. Stepped structure is formed from alternating strips of equal width etched and non-etched through entire thickness of film, straight to substrate. Then obtained relief structure is irradiated with sounding laser beam, powers of diffracted beams of zero P₀ and first P₁ diffraction orders are measured in obtained diffraction picture. Thereafter thickness of initial metal film is computed by certain formula. EFFECT: capability of measurement of thickness of films in range from minimal thickness of the order of dozens of Angstroms to thickness of the order of several thousand of Angstroms.