| The development of empirical expressions for the spectral dependence of the real and imaginary components of the dielectric function have proven useful over the years. These expressions can be applied in the analysis of optical data, including the interpretation of transmittance, reflectance, and ellipsometric spectra obtained from thin film semiconductors. Also, they can be used in performance simulations of optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells.;In this thesis, a critical comparison of a number of empirical models for the real and imaginary components of the dielectric function is performed. A number of crystalline and disordered semiconductors of interest are considered in this analysis. Also, a new means of numerically evaluating the real component of the dielectric function from the imaginary component is developed based on a Kramers-Kronig relation. Applications of this approach are discussed. |
