Rigorous coupled-wave analysis for two-dimensional gratings

Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis for 2D gratings is reviewed. The main features of RCWA such as the Fourier expansion of the dielectric function in the grating area, solving the Maxwell equation inside the grating, the eigenvalue problem and the matching of the tangential fields at the interfaces are described. Key improvements of the theory, that allows the reduction of the work time by orders of magnitude, such as the reduction of the sue of the matrix for the eigenvalue problem are stressed. The computer code written based on this theory passed consistency tests and was checked against other computer codes.