The entire system (hardware – software) is shipped ready for measurements: light source, spectrometer, reflection probe, heating/cooling unit, temperature controller, Windows™ software and can be easily used by anyone with basic computer skills without any deep knowledge of optics. The only additional part needed is a computer with two free USB ports running Windows XP/Vista/7 Operating System.

The film thickness and optical constants are calculated in real time while the physicochemical properties are determined after the completion of the measurements. Tight control over the heating and cooling rates allows for in depth study of the polymer film properties. The FR-Thermal is also ideal for many other thermal studies such as film thermal ablation, temperature dependent optical properties changes, Post Apply Bake, Post Exposure Bake thickness loss in lithography etc. For thickness measurements, all that is required in most cases is a smooth, reflective substrate. For optical constant measurements, a flat reflecting substrate is required. If the substrate is transparent, then its backside should be non reflective. FR-Thermal can handle layer stacks of up to four layers (environment and substrate are additional layers) and two parameters may be calculated e.g. the thicknesses of two films or the thickness and the optical constants of one film.

The FR-THERMAL tool has been successfully applied for the calculation of the thermal properties of various polymer films as well as on the evaluation of the effect of thermal treatment on the lithographic properties of several photoresist films over totally reflecting substrates (Si wafer).