Correlating Optical Microspectroscopy with 4×4 Transfer Matrix Modeling for Characterizing Birefringent Van der Waals Materials

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Julian Schwarz - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Michael Niebauer - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Maria Koleśnik-Gray - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Maximilian Szabo - , Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology (Author)
  • Leander Baier - , Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology (Author)
  • Phanish Chava - , Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Author)
  • Artur Erbe - , Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Author)
  • Vojislav Krstić - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Mathias Rommel - , Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology (Author)
  • Andreas Hutzler - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Jülich Research Centre (Author)

Abstract

Van der Waals materials exhibit intriguing properties for future electronic and optoelectronic devices. As those unique features strongly depend on the materials' thickness, it has to be accessed precisely for tailoring the performance of a specific device. In this study, a nondestructive and technologically easily implementable approach for accurate thickness determination of birefringent layered materials is introduced by combining optical reflectance measurements with a modular model comprising a 4×4 transfer matrix method and the optical components relevant to light microspectroscopy. This approach is demonstrated being reliable and precise for thickness determination of anisotropic materials like highly oriented pyrolytic graphite and black phosphorus in a range from atomic layers up to more than 100 nm. As a key feature, the method is well-suited even for encapsulated layers outperforming state of-the-art techniques like atomic force microscopy.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number2300618
Pages (from-to)1-10
Number of pages10
JournalSmall methods
Volume7(2023)
Issue number10
Publication statusPublished - 20 Oct 2023
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

PubMed 37462245

Keywords

Keywords

  • anisotropy, birefringence, microspectroscopy, thickness determination, transfer matrix method, van der Waals materials