NIST High Resolution X-Ray Diffraction Standard Reference Material: SRM 2000

Published

October 30, 2009

Author(s)

Donald A. Windover, David L. Gil, Albert Henins, James P. Cline

Abstract

NIST recently released a standard reference material (SRM) for the calibration of high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) instruments. HRXRD is extensively used in the characterization of lattice distortion in thin single, epitaxial crystal layers on single-crystal wafer substrates. Currently, there is a great need for improved accuracy and transferability for the measurement of strain fields in these epitaxial thin films. This implies an essential need for the calibration of HRXRD instruments to allow measurement intercomparison for both research and manufacturing communities. This first HRXRD SRM release provides certified measurements of diffraction features for a silicon reference substrate, Si (220) in transmission and Si (004) in reflection, allowing for calibration of either monochromator wavelength or goniometer angles. The SRM also provides information on the surface-to-crystal-plane misalignment, which allows calibration of sample holders and sample alignment hardware. This calibration should reduce the uncertainties when comparing, for instance, reciprocal space maps. Here we present a detailed description of these measured values and provide methods for using these to calibrate HRXRD instrumentation. SRM 2000 provides the semiconductor and the larger nanoscience community with the first nanometer length-scale reference standard with femtometer accuracy; the Si (220) transmission-feature-derived silicon lattice spacing, dSRM , has a value of 0.1920161 nm with an expanded uncertainty, U(dSRM), of 0.87 fm.

Proceedings Title

2009 International Conference on Frontiers of Characterization and Metrology for Nanoelectronics

Volume

1173

Conference Dates

May 11-15, 2009

Conference Location

Albany, NY

Pub Type

Conferences

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DOI Link

Keywords

high resolution X-ray diffraction, epitaxy, silicon, germanium, SiGe, miscut, calibration, standard reference material

Citation

Windover, D. , Gil, D. , Henins, A. and Cline, J. (2009), NIST High Resolution X-Ray Diffraction Standard Reference Material: SRM 2000, 2009 International Conference on Frontiers of Characterization and Metrology for Nanoelectronics , Albany, NY, [online], https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3251259 (Accessed April 18, 2024)