How do I calculate absorption coefficient of my thin film if I dont know the thickness? Or how can I calculate the thickness of my sample?

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Xuhua Wang Popular answer

Dear Shrey Jain,

Without thin film thickness values, it is impossible to calculate the absorption coefficients if you use thin film samples to measure the UV-VIS spectra. The thin film thickness can be measured using a surface profiler instrument. It is a very popular machine. You should be able to fine one from the campus easily.

Best wishes

Xuhua

Xuhua Wang

Martin Goodchild

Hi Shred Jain,

Do you have access to an ellipsometer, your thin films might be suitable?

Good luck.

Best regards,

Martin

@Martin Goodchild,

It is much complicated to obtain the thin film thickness using an elliposometry if the refractive index is unknown or optical constants are unknown. The elliposometry relies on the fitting or modelling. We did try to do some materials. The results could be unforeseeable. It is much easier to get the thin film thickness from a simple surface profiler instrument rather a complicated optical instrument via modelling. The surface profiler can also give you an extra information of the quality for your thin film samples such as roughness or film homogeneity.

Dirk Luetzenkirchen-Hecht

If you have an idea of the film's chemical composition (by e.g. XPS, EDX or any other element-sensitive probe) you may calculate the optical properties, and using those, you might be able to model (i.e. fit) the measured absorbance / transmittance and thereby getting the film thickness as well ... Just an idea!

Alexander T. Morchenko

Indeed, it is unlikely that you will get what you want only from your data without additional measurements, some of which have already been suggested to you.

Please read the following articles on film ellipsometry. Perhaps they or the article references will help you: Magnetoellipsometric studies of multilayer Fe and Co nanofilms, Journal of Nano - and Electron Physics 2013, 5(4), 04002

Effective impedance method for In situ analysis of magnetic film ellipsometry, Journal of Nano - and Electronic Physics 2014, 5(4), 04003

Kissan Mistry

With the transmittance spectra, T. the absorption coefficient Alpha= 2- log10(T).

Thickness is not required.

Dear Kissan Mistry,

T depends on the thickness of the material layer and has different values for different thicknesses, and the absorption coefficient is a specific value and characterizes only the properties of the material, regardless of the size of the body. There is not enough thickness in your formula.