eng Science and Education Publishing International Journal of Physics 2333-4886 2015-01-03 3 1 8 11 10.12691/ijp-3-1-2 IJP2015312 article Yashika Gupta 1 P. Arun arunp92@physics.du.ac.in 1 Material Science Research Lab, S.G.T.B. Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India Ellipsometry is a non-destructive, fast and accurate characterization technique used for determining the thickness and the optical constants of a material. However, this method has a drawback considering that the experimentally measured data are not meaningful in itself and one has to interpret the data based on modelling making ellipsometry dependent on the model selection, computation power/time and fitting. This makes ellipsometry, a difficult characterization method. However, it also presents a wonderful opportunity to apply the various topics taught in physics classes at undergraduate level. This paper provides the detailed insight into the self-standing film, the simplest case possible and hence the first step of ellipsometry experimentation which can be useful for substrate analysis in complex systems if the nature of the substrate is not known. http://pubs.sciepub.com/ijp/3/1/2/ijp-3-1-2.pdf optics electrodynamics refractive index