Determination of the refractive index and thickness of a thin film embedded in a given stratified medium.

A thin film deposited on the plane face of a glass substrate or a thin film embedded in a known stratified medium can be characterized by nondestructive optical measurements: transmittance and reflectance for several angles of incidence with s and p polarization. We present here a graphic method for determining the complex refractive index and thickness for thin film optical characterization. Light entering into the medium through a prism or half-cylinder [attenuated total reflection (ATR)] extends the usable angles. Applications are made to very thin metallic films and dielectric films (SiO(x)).