Application of Microwave Photonic Structures to Measurement of Parameters of Nanometer Films

The method for measurement of the thickness and conductivity of nanometer metal layers in sandwich-like structures with the use of frequency dependency of the reflectance of electromagnetic wave from the structure under investigation has been proposed and implemented experimentally. The possibility of solving the important task - determining the conductivity and conductivity of a metal film (chromium, aluminum) in the range from 10 nm till 2000 nm - has been shown. The results of the investigations of the possibility to apply microwave photonic structures for measurement of parameters of nanometer metal layers on dielectric structures are presented. It has been shown that selecting the parameters of the photonic structure and the frequency of the probing radiation in the region of the low-loss transmission window, which appears due to irregularity in the photonic structure introduced as changed thickness or permittivity of one of the layers, it is possible to tune the sensitivity of the reflectance to the change of the thickness of the metal layer of the structure being measured.