Interlaboratory Comparison of Traceable Atomic Force Microscope Pitch Measurements

Published

June 14, 2010

Author(s)

Ronald G. Dixson, Donald Chernoff, Shihua Wang, Theodore V. Vorburger, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Siew-Leng Tan, Joseph Fu

Abstract

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Advanced Surface Microscopy (ASM), and the National Metrology Centre (NMC) of the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore have undertaken a three-way interlaboratory comparison of traceable pitch measurements using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The specimen being used for this comparison is provided by ASM and consists of SiO2 lines having a 70 nm pitch patterned on a silicon substrate. NIST has a multifaceted program in atomic force microscope (AFM) dimensional metrology. One component of this effort is a custom in-house metrology AFM, called the calibrated AFM (C-AFM). The NIST C-AFM has displacement metrology for all three axes traceable to the 633 nm wavelength of the iodine-stabilized He-Ne laser. NIST is using the C-AFM to participate in this comparison. NMC/A*STAR is using a large scanning range metrological atomic force microscope (LRM-AFM). The LRM-AFM integrates an AFM scanning head into a nano-stage equipped with three built-in He-Ne laser interferometers so that its measurement related to the motion on all three axes is directly traceable to the SI unit for length. ASM is using a commercially available AFM with an open-loop scanner, calibrated by a 144-nm pitch transfer standard. In a prior collaboration with Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the German national metrology institute, ASM’s transfer standard was calibrated using PTB’s traceable optical diffractometry instrument. Thus, ASM’s measurements are also traceable to the SI meter. The measurements for this interlaboratory comparison have been completed and the results are in agreement within their expanded uncertainties and at the level of a few parts in 104.

Proceedings Title

2010 SCANNING/SPIE Proceedings

Conference Dates

May 17-20, 2010

Conference Location

Monterey, CA

Conference Title

2010 SCANNING/SPIE

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

AFM, metrology, pitch, standards, calibration, traceability

Citation

Dixson, R. , Chernoff, D. , Wang, S. , Vorburger, T. , Orji, N. , Tan, S. and Fu, J. (2010), Interlaboratory Comparison of Traceable Atomic Force Microscope Pitch Measurements, 2010 SCANNING/SPIE Proceedings, Monterey, CA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=905745 (Accessed October 20, 2025)