Thermo optical coefficient of tin-oxide films measured by ellipsometry

The thermo-optic coefficient of tin-oxide thin films on silicon substrates was measured using fixed
wavelength ellipsometry. The applicability of ellipsometry for these measurements is discussed
with special considerations to the problem of measurement of the thermo-optic coefficient of materials
with very low values of the thermo-optic coefficient (<2105). The effect of thermal
annealing on the thermo-optic coefficient and on the film-substrate boundary properties of the tin
oxide film is also discussed.