Polarized light scattering by dielectric and metallic spheres on oxidized silicon surfaces

The polarization and intensity of light scattered by polystyrene latex and copper spheres with diameters of approximately 100 nm deposited onto silicon substrates containing various thicknesses of oxide films were measured with 532-nm light. The results are compared with a theory for scattering by a sphere on a surface, originally developed by others [Physica A137, 209 (1986)] and extended to include coatings on the substrate. Nonlinear least-squares fits of the theory to the observations yield results that were consistent with differential mobility measurements of the particle diameter.