• Díaz-García, Maria A.
• Mira, Jose Carlos
• Muñoz-Mármol, Rafael
• Boj, Pedro G.
• Cruz, María Eugenia
• Quintana, José A.
• Villalvilla, José M.
• Bonal, Víctor

Abstract

<jats:p>High-transparency polymers, called optical polymers (OPs), are used in many thin-film devices, for which the knowledge of film thickness (h) and refractive index (n) is generally required. Spectrophotometry is a cost-effective, simple and fast non-destructive method often used to determine these parameters simultaneously, but its application is limited to films where h &gt; 500 nm. Here, a simple spectrophotometric method is reported to obtain simultaneously the n and h of a sub-micron OP film (down to values of a few tenths of a nm) from its transmission spectrum. The method is valid for any OP where the n dispersion curve follows a two-coefficient Cauchy function and complies with a certain equation involving n at two different wavelengths. Remarkably, such an equation is determined through the analysis of n data for a wide set of commercial OPs, and its general validity is demonstrated. Films of various OPs (pristine or doped with fluorescent compounds), typically used in applications such as thin-film organic lasers, are prepared, and n and h are simultaneously determined with the proposed procedure. The success of the method is confirmed with variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry.</jats:p>

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• dispersion
• compound
• polymer
• ellipsometry
• spectrophotometry