Fundamental band gap is one of the key properties of semiconducting materials, which directly influences the functionality and performance of many photonic and photovoltaic (PV) devices. Photoluminescence (PL) and optical absorption spectroscopies are widely used to determine the band-gap energy E_g. For polycrystalline thin-film PV materials, however, it is often challenging to unambiguously interpret PL data owing to the presence of multiple peaks associated with various types of defect structures. To estimate E_g from optical absorption spectrum, on the other hand, a straight segment of the absorption coefficient curve needs to be chosen. But this selecting procedure is somewhat arbitrary, which leads to an inaccurate E_g value.

Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) accurately determines material’s optical function spectra over a wide spectral range. For semiconductor thin-film structures, a multilayer analysis is generally used to extract the optical information from SE data. Although mainly surface overlayer artifacts need to be corrected for SE data well-above the band gap in the analysis, several contributions should be considered for those near (and below) the band gap, such as the optical characteristic of substrate, presence of interfacial layers, and finite thickness of film in addition to the artifacts from surface overlayers. As a result, the obtained optical function spectrum and E_g value become somewhat model dependent with an increased uncertainty.

To reduce complications in mathematical modeling of SE data and improve the accuracy of resulting near-band-gap optical function spectrum, we introduce the pseudo-bulk approach, where SE measurements are performed on thin films grown on macroscopically roughened substrate surface. The essence of this approach is in suppressing the reflection of probing light from the film/substrate interface and below. Thus, no thickness fringes appear in the SE data, despite the thin-film nature of sample, and the band-gap onset can be clearly observed with a post-growth chemo-mechanical polishing of the film surface. We apply the pseudo-bulk approach to study near-band-gap optical properties of Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ and related PV absorber materials. We present a non-monotonic temperature-dependence of E_g for Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ and the clear band-gap onset of Cu₂SnSe₃ at around 0.45 eV for the first time. SE results are explained by the results from the electronic structure calculations. The applicability and limit of this approach are also discussed.

In-situ real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry (RT-SE) has been applied for the analysis of CdS:O films sputter deposited on c‑Si substrates from a CdS target using different flow ratios of O₂/(Ar+O₂) from 0 to 0.05. RT-SE studies of the CdS:O layers from the film side provide the complex dielectric function spectra of each the layers over a spectral range of 0.75 to 6.5 eV and its dependence on oxygen content in the material as deduced by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Ex-situ infrared ellipsometry of these samples enables extension of the dielectric function data to ~ 0.04 eV and provides information on free carrier conduction and chemical bonding in the material. In similar RT-SE studies, data acquired during the growth of CdS:O/CdTe layers on transparent conducting oxide (TCO) coated glass superstrates have been analyzed to determine the structural evolution of the layers in the configuration used for CdTe solar cells, with the CdS:O serving as an n-type window layer for the p-type CdTe absorber. The results of this analysis assist in the development of a realistic optical model for the multilayer structure of the solar cell. Using this optical model ex-situ through-the-glass spectroscopic ellipsometry (TG-SE) has been implemented toward the analysis of glass/(TCO-stack)/CdS:O/CdTe solar cells in the superstrate configuration.

For the solar cells, CdS:O layers with different oxygen contents were deposited on 15 cm x 15 cm TCO coated glass superstrates . A 16 x 16 array of dot cells each with an area of 0.125 cm² was fabricated on the superstrate in order to optimize efficiency improvements through combinatorial methods. Because the as-deposited superstrate/film-structure undergoes additional processing steps during device fabrication, three sets of TG-SE mapping data were acquired on (i) as-deposited, (ii) CdCl₂-treated (an activation step), and (iii) back-contact coated device structures. With an optical database that has been established for both as-deposited and CdCl₂ treated CdS:O, CdTe, and back contact materials, each of the TG-SE mapping data sets were analyzed based on an optical model deduced from RT-SE studies of the CdS:O and CdS:O/CdTe depositions. Thickness and compositional non-uniformity observed over the area by mapped by TG-SE enables correlations between solar cell performance and basic property parameters of the component layers including layer thicknesses and compositions. The resulting correlations provide a pathway to expedite solar cell optimization.

New opportunities for energy production and storage, catalysis, biosensing, drug delivering and plasmonics are offered by graphene-based materials. In order to make all those applications viable technologies, it is mandatory to functionalize graphene for modulating reproducibly its properties and for better understanding the surface and interfacial electronic phenomena in graphene hybrids.

To this aim, this contribution discusses the optical properties measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry in the 0.6-6.5 eV of graphene functionalized by:

(1) the covalent attachment of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and fluorine atoms, which strongly affect the optical properties of graphene through a partial sp2-to-sp3 conversion of carbon.

(2) the non-covalent interaction with organic molecules such as porphyrins that interact with graphene through p-systems.

(3) a variety of metals nanoparticles, like Au, Ag, Ga, to create a versatile graphene-based platform for plasmonics in frequency range from the terahertz to the visible .

(4) plasmonic nanoparticles and subsequent proteins to create an electro-optical sensing graphene platform.

The graphene is grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and transferred to glass substrates with coverage higher than 98%. This assures large area graphene samples that can easily accommodate the ellipsometric probing light spot avoiding uncontrolled effects due to undefined substrate/graphene boundaries. With the availability of high quality samples, effect of thickness and anisotropy, which have been debated for a while, are clarified.

Data on the real time monitoring of graphene optical properties by spectroscopic ellipsometry that allows for an unprecedented control over the degree of functionalization will also be presented.

The perspective of this work is twofold. From the fundamental point of view, in the investigated spectral range, the band structure of graphene has saddle van Hove-like singularities at the M points of the Brillouin zone, with possible excitonic effects. Focusing on the analysis of these singularities, many-body effects for all the graphene-derivates mentioned above are described.

From the technological point of view, it will be shown how the optical measurements can serves to clarify and explain the occurrence and stability of the doping of graphene by the various heteroatoms and molecules, the electron transfer between graphene and metals and molecules, and finally the sensitivity of the-graphene-platform in sensing gases and biomolecules.

Spectroscopic ellipsometry data of functionalized graphene are corroborated by Raman spectroscopy, microscopies and electrical characterizations.

It is often difficult to determine the surface-normal dielectric functions of anisotropic materials, because to lack of sensitivity to optical properties out of the surface plane[1][2]. The primary cause is the large angle of refraction that occurs as the light enters from low index medium like air. In these circumstances, the penetrating light beam bends strongly towards surface normal, resulting in electric fields that are oriented primarily in the surface plane. This is a particular problem for absorbing films, since most of the light collected by the detector is reflected from the ambient/film interface. We use a total internal reflection method to enhance ellipsometric sensitivity to optical properties of uniaxial absorbing materials in the out-of-plane direction. This non-destructive technique is illustrated using a P3HT poly(3-hexylthiophene) film on fused silica, and the results are compared to the standard air/film/substrate method.

[1] D.E. Aspnes. J. Opt. Soc. Am., 70, 10, 1275 (1980).

[2] G. E. Jellison Jr. and J. S. Baba, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A23, 2 468 (2006).

Electrochemical reactions on metal electrodes have been in the focus of many scientific studies and Cu is probably the most investigated example. Mainly, the interest on Cu is motivated by by questions concerning e.g. the corrosion behavior or the optimization of electro-polishing procedures. Classical electrochemical approaches contain usually a description of the occurring reaction products and concentrations. However, it is evident that a fundamental understanding also requires knowledge about the microscopic occurrence of the metal-electrolyte interface. Desirable is a fundamental knowledge as it is obtained already for surfaces in UHV. But unfortunately, most of the classical surface sensitive techniques cannot be applied in liquid environments. Thus it is not surprising that many fundamental issues in electrochemical reactions are still unsolved.

In our work we combine reflection anisotropy spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and a homemade electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope to study Cu single crystals in hydrochloric solutions. With these methods we enabled monitoring of the local appearance as well as the dynamics of interface transformations/reactions on the atomic scale. In particular it was possible to explain for the (110) surface in more detail the correlation of Faraday-current and structural transformation. Here, the Cl adsorption minimizes the surface energy by a formation of monoatomic steps parallel to the [001] direction which finally ends in a faceting of the surface. It turns out that characteristic redox peaks in cyclic voltammograms correlate with the stabilization of certain arrangements of these steps. The structures are formed first by Cu dissolution and at higher anodic potentials by rearrangement of Cu atoms in the surface. It is remarkable that the latter process compares nicely with oxide/chloride induced surface transformations which are observed in UHV. The comparison with the UHV results in turn is used to achieve a more comprehensive model for the processes in electrochemical environment.