Abstract
Formation of a rough film of crystalline material on a smooth substrate resulting from kinetic roughening in epitaxy or erosion causes disproportionate changes in reflectivity for s- and p-polarized light. I present a mean-field theory of optical reflectivity difference defined as (rp-r p0)/rp0-(rs-rs0)/r s0≡Δp-Δs from such a rough film, with rp0 and rs0 being the reflectivities of the bare substrate, and rp and rs being the reflectivities after the rough film forms on the substrate. In the limit that the average film thickness is less than the optical wavelength λ, I found that Δp - Δs consists of a term that varies linearly with the average film thickness and a term that is proportional to the surface density of step edge atoms. I apply such a theory to the analysis of growth and ion erosion of a number of crystalline materials studied with the oblique-incidence optical reflectivity difference (OI-RD) technique.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 115407 |
Pages (from-to) | 1154071-1154075 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics |
Volume | 69 |
Issue number | 11 |
State | Published - Mar 2004 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Condensed Matter Physics