A novel instrument is proposed that will enable rapid and precision inspection of highly polished material surfaces. Using "polarized scatterimetry" techniques, the surface topology, residual machining artifacts, and subsurface defects in materials can be quickly inspected in the manufacturing area. Thus, defects in substrates intended for mirrors, semiconductor microelectronics or magnetic storage media can be quickly detected and characterized. Unlike typical profilometers and atomic force microscopes which rely upon "point-contact" probing, this remote sensing instrument can inspect extended areas of material surfaces in the manufacturing line environment for high volume in-process quality control. Also, the compact and physically robust Polarized Scatterometer can detect and characterize surface contaminants and/or foreign matter particulates. More importantly, this instrument can perform conventional as well as these new unique quality control functions with significantly less hardware than conventional laboratory elipsometers. Preselection of defect-free starting materials will significantly improve the manufacturing yields for products in the semiconductor, optics, and other technologies that depend upon micro-lithography and micro-machining for large scale integration (LSI) of complex parts. Thus, the production of such components as super-polished mirrors, semiconductor electronics, optical elements, video focal-planes and the like will benefit from higher quality, better yields, and lower cost through the implementation of the proposed instrumentation. COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: 1. Characterizing materials to preselect those capable of producing flawless components for the microelectronic, optoelectronic, data-storage, and medical industries thereby affecting a significant cost savings for military and commercial markets. 2. Characterizing scatter and its sources in thin film coatings such as filters and mirrors, thereby permitting the development of lower scatter coatings that provide higher laser damage thresholds to be achieved. Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) filters of sub-nanometer bandwidths require low scatter to achieve high efficiency and rejection
