Reducing or eliminating noise in ellipsometric spectra

In the last several years, considerable progress has been made in reducing or eliminating noise in ellipsometric spectra, including the development of algorithms for eliminating endpoint-discontinuity artifacts, a reciprocal-space expression for quantifying the effectiveness of linear filters, and the corrected maximum-entropy (CME) approach for eliminating apodization and its associated errors. These lead to new capabilities, together with additional opportunities for extracting information from spectra. These results enhance the utility of ellipsometry for analyzing surfaces, interfaces, materials, and structures. Examples are provided.