Technologically Advanced Material Characterization

Significant scientific and technical challenges §within the THz frequency regime have recently §motivated an array of new research activities. This §involves numerous applications of this frequency §range between approximately 100 GHz and 3 THz for §both spectroscopy and imaging purposes. THz time §domain spectroscopy is unique in that it measures §the electric field directly. In this work, THz §spectroscopy has been used to characterize §semiconductors, gate dielectrics, energetic §materials and cyclic olefin polymers. The most §significant contribution of this work has been to §deduce the number of defect states in buried layers §which will have potential applications in the §semiconductor industry. The characterization of a §cyclic olefin polymer showed that it is §the candidate of the future for fabrication of far §infrared optics. This monograph should serve as a §useful reference for students who are involved in §research activities in ultrafast optics and related §fields and also to professionals and engineers who §are considering the implementation of non-contact §optical techniques for characterization of §technologically advanced materials.