This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I Project will identify and demonstrate a new idea and design for an ellipsometry mapping instrument, which will be applied to processing control of semiconductor wafers and flat panel displays. The conventional point-measurement-based ellipsometry is widely used for semiconductor thin film thickness and dielectric constant characterization. However, fast in-line wafer mapping by ellipsometry, which should be desirable in semiconductor processing control, has been impractical. This proposed idea and design, if proved, will produce a new generation of ellipsometry instrumentation, which is non-destructive, fast for in-line mapping, suitable for any large size semiconductor wafers or flat panel displays, and will be a breakthrough in the semiconductor instrumentation market.
