Precise phase-modulation generalized ellipsometry of anisotropic samples

A procedure for the measurement of the generalized ellipsometric angles using a phase-modulation spectroscopic ellipsometer is described. Generalized phase-modulation ellipsometry combined with zone averaging enables precise characterization of samples with generalized anisotropy including anisotropic thin films with general axis orientation, liquid crystals, gratings, and anisotropic nanostructures. We employed a UVISEL. Jobin Yvon spectroscopic ellipsometer with a photoelastic modulator (PFM). The Jones matrix formalism is applied to nondepolarizing samples and ellipsometer components description. The zone averaging proposed enables elimination of azimuth-angle error and component imperfection.