Rapid surface roughness measurements of silicone thin films with different thicknesses

A rapid optical measurement system for rapid surface roughness measurement of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin films was developed in this study. Two kinds of thickness of poly-Si thin films were used to study rapid surface roughness measurements. Six different incident angles were employed for measuring the surface roughness of poly-Si thin films. The results reveal that the incident angle of 20° was found to be a good candidate for measuring the surface roughness of poly-Si thin films. Surface roughness (y) of poly-Si thin films can be determined rapidly from the average value of reflected peak power density (x) measured by the optical system developed using the trend equation of y = −0.1876x + 1.4067. The maximum measurement error rate of the optical measurement system developed was less than 8.61%. The savings in measurement time of the surface roughness of poly-Si thin films was up to 83%.