Thickness measurement of ultrathin films on metal substrates using ATR.

By modifying the surface plasma mode on a bare metal surface with an ultrathin film deposited on the metal, we measured the film thickness by attenuated total reflection (ATR). Various factors causing measurement errors are estimated with numerical examples. As a result, for example, it is shown that for some thicknesses, the errors due to the real part of the complex refractive index of a metal substrate become extremely small. Thicknesses of SiO(2) films sputtered onto Au foil and A1(2)O(3) films produced on Al foil by oxidation are measured.