2013/06/04 by N. Hermosa, Nathaniel Hermosa, Hermosa, N. +8
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Integrated Circuits and Semiconductor Failure Analysis #Near-Field Optical Microscopy #Optics (physics.optics) #Spectroscopy Techniques in Biomedical and Chemical Research #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1306.0776
experimental results are added
openalex publication_date 2013/06/04 · arxiv created 2013/10/10 · arxiv updated 2013/10/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We demonstrate an optical scheme for measuring the thickness of thin nanolayers with the use of light beam s spatial modes. The novelty in our scheme is the projection of the beam reflected by the sample onto a properly-tailored spatial mode. In the experiment described below, we are able to measure a step height smaller than 10 nm, i.e., one-eightieth (1/80)of the wavelength with a standard error in the picometer scale. Since our scheme enhances the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which effectively increases the sensitivity of detection, the extension of this technique to the detection of subnanometric layer thicknesses is feasible.