A new type of CCD spectroscopic ellipsometer has been designed and constructed to study the optical properties of materials in the 500-1000 nm wavelength range. For the system, the analyzer is fixed, and the polarizer is driven 10(4) steps per revolution by a stepping motor having a hollow shaft. The spectrometer was designed by using a two-dimensional Si-based CCD array detector and an integrated grating consisting of three sub-gratings. This magnifies the wavelength range threefold with higher spectral resolution and data acquisition speed. The optical analysis and software problems were investigated and solved. The complex dielectric function of a gold film sample was measured with the result that is in agreement with that obtained by other methods based on the Drude model. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.