Report of Investigation of RM 8111: Single-Crystal Critical Dimension Prototype Reference Materials

Published

March 2, 2005

Author(s)

Michael W. Cresswell, Richard A. Allen, Ronald G. Dixson, William F. Guthrie, Christine E. Murabito, Brandon Park, Joaquin (. Martinez

Abstract

Staff of the Semiconductor Electronics Division, the Information Technology Laboratory, and the Precision Engineering Laboratory at NIST, in collaboration with VLSI Standards, Inc., of San Jose, California, have developed a new generation of prototype Single-Crystal CD Reference Materials for calibrating CD-metrology instruments that are used in semiconductor manufacturing. The reference material is configured as a 9-mm x 11-mm silicon test-structure chip that is mounted in a 200-mm silicon carrier wafer. The fabrication of both the chip itself and the carrier wafer use the type of lattice-plane-selective etching that is commonly employed in MEMS fabrication. The certified CDs of the reference features are determined from AFM-CD measurements that are referenced to high-resolution transmission-electron microscopy images that reveal the cross-section counts of lattice planes having a pitch that is traceable to the SI meter.

Citation

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Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Keywords

atomic force microscopy (AFM), critical dimension (CD), linewidth, reference material, scannning electron microscopy (SEM)

Citation

Cresswell, M. , Allen, R. , Dixson, R. , Guthrie, W. , Murabito, C. , Park, B. and Martinez, J. (2005), Report of Investigation of RM 8111: Single-Crystal Critical Dimension Prototype Reference Materials, , National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (Accessed October 21, 2025)