An intensity-monitoring technique for measuring ellipsometric transients

Abstract

Intensity-monitoring techniques make possible the measurement of rapid changes in the ellipsometric parameters. Methods used hitherto have been suitable for measuring slight changes only and require prior knowledge of the Δ and Ψ values for the initial surface. It is shown that larger changes can also be measured and that the values of Δ and Ψ for the initial surface need not be known beforehand. To illustrate the method measurements are made relating to the anodising of a hanging mercury drop electrode in 1 mol dm−3 NaOH; under these conditions a thick oxide layer is known to be formed