Abstract
A method which enables measurement of thickness of a molecularly thin lubricant film coated on a surface with groove-shaped textures is presented. In this method, zero-order diffracted light is first calculated versus the film thickness by using rigorous coupled-wave analysis, and then parameters measured by an ellipsometer are converted to film thickness by using the calculated result. Lubricant spreading is experimentally measured on a grooved surface with this method. Compared with that on a smooth surface, lubricant spreading is faster on the grooved surface, indicating an acceleration effect of the grooves.
