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Search Publications by: Ronald G. Dixson (Fed)

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Displaying 26 - 50 of 139

Distributed Force Probe Bending Model of CD-AFM Bias

April 1, 2013
Author(s)
Vladimir A. Ukraintsev, Ndubuisi George Orji, Theodore V. Vorburger, Ronald G. Dixson, Joseph Fu, Richard M. Silver
Critical Dimension AFM (CD-AFM) is a widely used reference metrology technique. To characterize modern semiconductor devices, small and flexible probes, often 15 nm to 20 nm in diameter, are used. Recent studies have reported uncontrolled and significant

3-D Optical Metrology of Finite sub-20 nm Dense Arrays using Fourier Domain Normalization

March 25, 2013
Author(s)
Jing Qin, Hui Zhou, Bryan M. Barnes, Ronald G. Dixson, Richard M. Silver
Reduced target dimensions requiring improved resolution and sensitivity have driven the need to use and analyze the phase and scattered frequency information available when using image-based scatterometry systems. One such system is scatterfield microscopy

Effect of the Spherical Indenter Tip Assumption on the Initial Plastic Yield Stress

October 17, 2012
Author(s)
Li Ma, Lyle E. Levine, Ronald G. Dixson, Douglas T. Smith, David Bahr
Nanoindentation is widely used to explore the mechanical properties of small volumes of materials. For crystalline materials, there is a growing experimental and theoretical interest in pop-in events, which are sudden displacement-burst excursions during

Robust Auto-Alignment Technique for Orientation-Dependent Etching of Nanostructures

May 29, 2012
Author(s)
Craig D. McGray, Richard J. Kasica, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Ronald G. Dixson, Michael W. Cresswell, Richard A. Allen, Jon C. Geist
A robust technique is presented for auto-aligning nanostructures to slow-etching crystallographic planes in materials with diamond cubic structure. Lithographic mask patterns are modified from the intended dimensions of the nanostructures to compensate for

Contour Metrology using Critical Dimension Atomic Force Microscopy

April 9, 2012
Author(s)
Ndubuisi G. Orji, Ronald G. Dixson, Andras Vladar, Bin Ming, Michael T. Postek
The critical dimension atomic force microscope (CD-AFM), which is used as a reference instrument in lithography metrology, has been proposed as a supplemental instrument for contour measurement and verification. However, although data from CD-AFM is

On CD-AFM bias related to probe bending

April 9, 2012
Author(s)
Vladimir A. Ukraintsev, Ndubuisi George Orji, Theodore V. Vorburger, Ronald G. Dixson, Joseph Fu, Richard M. Silver
Critical Dimension AFM (CD-AFM) is a widely used reference metrology. To characterize modern semiconductor devices, very small and flexible probes, often 15 nm to 20 nm in diameter, are now frequently used. Several recent publications have reported on

Traceable Calibration of a Critical Dimension Atomic Force Microscope

March 9, 2012
Author(s)
Ronald G. Dixson, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Craig D. McGray, John E. Bonevich, Jon C. Geist
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a multifaceted program in atomic force microscope (AFM) dimensional metrology. One component of this program, and the focus of this paper, is the use of critical dimension atomic force

A Bayesian Statistical Model for Hybrid Metrology to Improve Measurement Accuracy

July 31, 2011
Author(s)
Richard M. Silver, Nien F. Zhang, Bryan M. Barnes, Jing Qin, Hui Zhou, Ronald G. Dixson
We present a method to combine measurements from different techniques that reduces uncertainties and can improve measurement throughput. The approach directly integrates the measurement analysis of multiple techniques that can include different

Traceable Calibration of a Critical Dimension Atomic Force Microscope

June 6, 2011
Author(s)
Ronald G. Dixson, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Craig D. McGray, Jon C. Geist
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (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

A Traceable Scatterometry Measurement of a Silicon Line Grating

May 26, 2011
Author(s)
Thomas A. Germer, Heather J. Patrick, Ronald G. Dixson
In this paper, we present a spectroscopic Mueller matrix ellipsometry measurement of a silicon line grating with nominal pitch of 600 nm and line width 100 nm. An uncertainty analysis is performed on the measurement results. The results are compared to

Progress on CD-AFM tip width calibration standards

May 10, 2011
Author(s)
Ronald G. Dixson, Boon Ping Ng, Craig D. McGray, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Jon C. Geist
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is developing a new generation of standards for calibration of CD-AFM tip width. These standards, known as single crystal critical dimension reference materials (SCCDRM) have features with near

Nested Uncertainties and Hybrid Metrology to Improve Measurement Accuracy

April 18, 2011
Author(s)
Richard M. Silver, Nien F. Zhang, Bryan M. Barnes, Hui Zhou, Jing Qin, Ronald G. Dixson
In this paper we present a method to combine measurement techniques that reduce uncertainties and improve measurement throughput. The approach has immediate utility when performing model-based optical critical dimension measurements. When modeling optical

TSOM Method for Semiconductor Metrology

April 18, 2011
Author(s)
Ravikiran Attota, Ronald G. Dixson, John A. Kramar, James E. Potzick, Andras Vladar, Benjamin D. Bunday, Erik Novak, Andrew C. Rudack
Through-focus scanning optical microscopy (TSOM) is a new metrology method that achieves 3D nanoscale measurement resolution using conventional optical microscopes; measurement sensitivities are comparable to what is typical using Scatterometry, SEM and

Measurement Traceability and Quality Assurance in a Nanomanufacturing Environment

March 8, 2011
Author(s)
Ndubuisi G. Orji, Ronald G. Dixson, Aaron Cordes, Benjamin Bunday, John Allgair
A key requirement for nano-manufacturing is maintaining acceptable traceability of measurements performed to determine size. Given that properties and functionality at the nanoscale are governed by absolute size, maintaining the traceability of dimensional

Scanning Probe Microscope Dimensional Metrology at NIST

December 21, 2010
Author(s)
John A. Kramar, Ronald G. Dixson, Ndubuisi G. Orji
Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) dimensional metrology efforts at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology are reviewed. The main SPM instruments for realizing the International System of Units (SI) are the Molecular Measuring Machine, the

Generalized ellipsometry of artificially designed line width roughness

December 10, 2010
Author(s)
Martin Foldyna, Thomas A. Germer, Brent Bergner, Ronald G. Dixson
We use azimuthally-resolved spectroscopic Mueller matrix ellipsometry to study a periodic silicon line structure with and without artificially-generated line width roughness (LWR). We model the artificially perturbed grating using 1D and 2D rigorous

Nano- and Atom-scale Length Metrology

October 1, 2010
Author(s)
Theodore V. Vorburger, Ronald G. Dixson, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Joseph Fu, Richard A. Allen, Michael W. Cresswell, Vincent A. Hackley
Measurements of length at the nano-scale have increasing importance in manufacturing, especially in the electronics and biomedical industries. The properties of linewidth and step height are critical to the function and specification of semiconductor

Interlaboratory Comparison of Traceable Atomic Force Microscope Pitch Measurements

June 14, 2010
Author(s)
Ronald G. Dixson, Donald Chernoff, Shihua Wang, Theodore V. Vorburger, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Siew-Leng Tan, Joseph Fu
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

Calibration of 1 nm SiC Step Height Standards

March 31, 2010
Author(s)
Theodore V. Vorburger, Albert M. Hilton, Ronald G. Dixson, Ndubuisi G. Orji, J. A. Powell, A. J. Trunek, P. G. Neudeck, P. B. Abel
We aim to develop and calibrate a set of step height standards to meet the range of steps useful for nanotechnology. Of particular interest to this community is the calibration of atomic force microscopes operating at their highest levels of magnification