The Surface and Microform Metrology (SMM) Group of the Precision Engineering Division (PED), one of five divisions of the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), specializes in measurements of surface topography using mechanical profilometry, interferometric microscopy, confocal microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. These techniques also enable us to perform nanoscale calibrations of step height, pitch, linewidth, and line sidewall angle at the state of the art. Applications for our work range over the electronics, optics, automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding, and road building industries.
Technical Areas
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Surface Finish Metrology — The Surface and Microform Metrology Group carries out research projects for the measurement and calibration of surface roughness. Surface roughness measurements and specifications impact many industrial products including highways, … |
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Microform Metrology — What is microform? With developments in computer science and technology, microelectronics, precision engineering, and micromechanics, many engineering parts with small sizes and tight tolerances must be measured with high accuracy … |
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Calibrated Atomic Force Microscopy — Why are atomic force microscope (AFM) standards needed? Atomic force microscopes (AFM's) are being increasingly used as metrology tools in a variety of industrial applications, thus driving an increasing demand … |
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Metrology Electron Microscopy — A scanning electron microscope (SEM) with ultra-high vacuum (UHV) environment has a cold field emitter as its beam source. Less than 10 nm beam resolution can be achieved … |
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Electromagnetic Scattering — How is electromagnetic scattering used in metrology? The products of the semiconductor industry contain features such as lines and trenches that are gradually being reduced in size, so that now their dimensions are often comparable to … |
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Standard Bullets and Casings — As with fingerprints, every firearm has unique characteristics and, when fired, imprints unique signatures on the bullets and casings. By analyzing these ballistics signatures, examiners are able to connect a particular firearm … |
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Micrometer Level Surface Finish Metrology — Provide optical three-dimensional surface topography measurement at the micrometer level. Conventional surface topography involves contact stylus instruments and are considered the "gold …
Nanometer Scale Dimensional Metrology — Nanometer scale metrology for instrument calibration applications such as atomic force microscopy or scanning electron microscope calibrations will be focused on 100 μm by 100 μm …
Wafer Level AFM Metrology for Critical Dimension Measurements — Significant manufacturing metrology challenges exist beyond scale calibration for the accurate determination of the size width and length of physical features. Measurement of linewidth or critical …
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Surface and Microform Metrology Group
