Optical Anisotropy Studies of Sapphire by Raman Scattering and Spectroscopic Transmission Ellipsometry

ABSTRACTOptical anisotropy of sapphire have been studied by both polarized Raman scattering and transmission variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (TVASE). The polarized Raman effect was measured on both c-plane (0001) and a-plane (2110) sapphire substrates. Two TO phonons (379 and 431 cm−l) and four LO phonons (418, 450, 577, and 750 cm−1) were observed when the optical axis <c> is perpendicular to the polarization of the incident laser beam (for both c-plane and a-plane). While only two TO phonons (379 and 431cm−1) and two LO phonons (418 and 645 cm−1) can be seen when the optical axis is parallel to the polarization for an a-plane sapphire. The optical axis of the a-plane sapphire can then be quickly determined by either maximizing or minimizing the 645 LO peak intensity with about ±10° error. TVASE measurements were carried out in the energy range of 0.75eV to 5.8eV at room temperature. Sizable off-diagonal Jones matrix elements Apst, and Aspt can be detected even with the optical axis 1° off the X-axis. This indicates that TVASE has a high sensitivity to optical anisotropy. By minimizing these off-diagonal elements and combining the Raman analysis, the optical axis orientation of an a-plane or m-plane (0110) sapphire can therefore be fully determined with an error of less than 1°.