Single-shot angle-resolved spectroscopic micro-ellipsometry with full-field imaging capability

High-volume manufacturing of miniaturized microelectronic and optoelectronic devices demands high-throughput, in-line metrology with high lateral resolution and multidimensional sensitivity. We demonstrate a single-shot angle-resolved spectroscopic micro-ellipsometry (SAR-SE) system integrating snapshot channeled spectropolarimetry with high-numerical-aperture (high-NA) microscopy. SAR-SE enables the simultaneous acquisition of angularly and spectrally resolved ellipsometric information in a single exposure, achieving a spectral range of 410-790 nm, incident angles spanning 0°-70°, a focused spot size of 3.15-12.6 μm, a lateral resolution better than 0.78 μm, and acquisition times down to 150 ms. A comprehensive system model incorporates residual polarization effects arising from high-NA objectives and beam splitters, as well as alignment errors, providing theoretical guidance for snapshot micro-ellipsometry design. An in situ calibration using a single spherical mirror determines retarder retardances and residual polarization factors without pre-calibrated references. Combined with physics-informed reconstruction, SAR-SE achieves robust Mueller-matrix recovery despite azimuthal misalignment and noise, demonstrating an accuracy better than ±0.005 for the spherical mirror. Experiments on a series of SiO2/Si films show good overall agreement with commercial spectroscopic ellipsometers and yield a thickness repeatability of 0.017-0.045 nm. These results validate SAR-SE's potential for monitoring nanoscale films and sub-micrometer structures in high-volume manufacturing.