A simple new method for retrieving spectral changes of the refractive index of thin films from transmission spectra

A new method for calculating the refractive index spectral behaviour of thin films is presented. The method is based on introducing the idea of the order of appearance technique to accurately find the order of interference and Cauchy fitting parameters of the interference peaks observed in the transmission spectra of the thin film under investigation. A very simple mathematical relationship was found that relates the order of appearance and wavenumber of the interference peaks observed in the transmission spectrum. Fitting the data extracted from the measured transmission spectra to the newly found simple mathematical relation, we can extract the order of interference and Cauchy fitting parameters of the thin film under investigation. In addition, the thickness of the film was extracted and found to agree well with the thickness measured using the spectroscopic ellipsometery technique. The proposed method of calculation was successfully applied to five binary semiconductor samples, which are ZnO, ZnTe, ZnS, ZnSe, and SiO2. A very good agreement was found between the proposed method of calculation and the well-known method presented by Swanepoel. Finally, the effect of surface roughness on the FECO peak wavelength was discussed.