Optical Characterization of Ultra-Thin Iron and Iron Oxide Films

Abstract

Ultra-thin films of ⁵⁷Fe deposited on silicon substrates and SiO_xC_yH_z support layers and subsequently oxidized in laboratory atmosphere are studied by two optical methods: the combination of UV/VIS/NIR spectroscopic ellipsometry and spectrophotometry, used to find layer thicknesses and optical constants, and X-ray specular reflectometry, used to obtain the electron density depth profile. The results of both methods are compared and found to be in a relatively good agreement. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2009.486]