Abstract
We developed a real-time three-polarizer spectroscopic ellipsometer based on a new data acquisition algorithm and a general data reduction (the process of extracting the ellipsometric sample parameters from the Fourier coefficients). The data acquisition algorithm measures Fourier coefficients of radiant flux waveform accurately and precisely. The general data reduction is introduced to represent the analytic functions of the standard uncertainties of the ellipsometric sample parameters, and the extracted theoretical values closely agree with the corresponding experimental data. Our approach can be used for optimization of measurement conditions, instrumentation, simulation, standardization, laboratory accreditation, and metrology.
