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Search Publications by: Ronald G. Dixson (Fed)

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Displaying 76 - 100 of 139

TEM Calibration Methods for Critical Dimension Standards

April 5, 2007
Author(s)
Ndubuisi G. Orji, Ronald G. Dixson, B Bunday, M R. Bishop, Michael W. Cresswell, J Allgair
One of the key challenges in critical dimension (CD) metrology is finding suitable calibration standards. Over the last few years there has been some interest in using features measured with transmission electron microscope (TEM) as primary standards for

Study of Test Structures for Use as Reference Material in Optical Critical Dimension Applications

March 22, 2007
Author(s)
Richard A. Allen, Heather Patrick, Michael Bishop, Thomas Germer, Ronald G. Dixson, William Gutherie, Michael W. Cresswell
Optical critical dimension (OCD) metrology has rapidly become an important technology in supporting the worldwide semiconductor industry. OCD relies on a combination of measurement and modeling to extract the average dimensions of an array of identical

Application of Carbon Nanotube Probes in a Critical Dimension Atomic Force Microscope

March 1, 2007
Author(s)
B C. Park, J Choi, S J. Ahn, D H. Kim, L Joon, Ronald G. Dixson, Ndubuisi George Orji, Joseph Fu, Theodore V. Vorburger
The ever decreasing size of semiconductor features demands the advancement of critical dimension atomic force microscope (CD-AFM) technology, for which the fabrication and use of more ideal probes like carbon nanotubes (CNT) is of considerable interest

Computational Models of the Nana Probe Tip for Static Behaviors (Abstract Only)

February 1, 2007
Author(s)
Shaw C. Feng, Theodore V. Vorburger, Che B. Joung, Joseph Fu, Ronald G. Dixson, Li Ma
As integrated circuits become smaller and faster, the measurement of line width must have less uncertainty and more versatility. The common requirement for uncertainty is less than 10 nanometers. The industrial need for versatility is three dimensional

3D Image Correction of Tilted Sample Through Coordinate Transformation

January 1, 2007
Author(s)
Wei Chu, Joseph Fu, Ronald G. Dixson, Theodore V. Vorburger
In scanned probe measurements of micrometer- or nanometer-scale lines, it is nearly impossible to maintain the sample in a perfectly level position, and even a small amount of tilt angle can contribute to the accuracy of the result of measurand such as

Higher Order Tip Effects in CD-AFM Linewidth Measurements

January 1, 2007
Author(s)
Ndubuisi G. Orji, Ronald G. Dixson
In critical dimension Atomic force microscopy (CD-AFM), a source of uncertainty is the tip. Measurements made using a CD-AFM tip show an apparent broadening of the width. Usually the results can be approximated if the tip-width is known. In addition to tip

Linewidth Measurement Based on Automatically Matched and Stitched Images

January 1, 2007
Author(s)
Wei Chu, Joseph Fu, Ronald G. Dixson, Theodore V. Vorburger
The emergence of ultra-sharp carbon nanotube (CNT) tips provides a new approach to minimize the distortion of the measured linewidth profile caused by interaction with the fmite probe tip size. However, the inevitable tilt angle resulting from attaching

Progress on Implementation of a CD-AFM Based Reference Measurement System

March 1, 2006
Author(s)
Ndubuisi G. Orji, Angela Martinez, Ronald G. Dixson, J Allgair
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and SEMATECH are working to address traceability issues in semiconductor dimensional metrology. In semiconductor manufacturing, many of the measurements made in the fab are not traceable to the SI

The Limits of Image-Based Optical Metrology

March 1, 2006
Author(s)
Richard M. Silver, Bryan M. Barnes, Ravikiran Attota, Jay S. Jun, James J. Filliben, Juan Soto, Michael T. Stocker, P Lipscomb, Egon Marx, Heather J. Patrick, Ronald G. Dixson, Robert D. Larrabee
An overview of the challenges encountered in imaging device-sized features using optical techniques recently developed in our laboratories is presented in this paper. We have developed a set of techniques we refer to as scatterfield microscopy which allows

Traceable Atomic Force Microscope Dimensional Metrology at NIST

March 1, 2006
Author(s)
Ronald G. Dixson, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Joseph Fu, Michael W. Cresswell, Richard A. Allen, William F. Guthrie
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a multifaceted program in atomic force microscope (AFM) dimensional metrology. There are two major instruments being used for traceable measurements at NIST. The first is a custom in-house

Nano- and Atomic-Scale Length Metrology

January 1, 2006
Author(s)
Theodore V. Vorburger, Ronald G. Dixson, Joseph Fu, Ndubuisi George Orji, Shaw C. Feng, Michael W. Cresswell, Richard A. Allen, William F. Guthrie, Wei Chu
We discuss nano-scale length metrology of linewidth, step height, and line edge roughness (LER). These properties are of growing importance to the function and specification of semiconductor devices as the dimensions of semiconductor devices shrink to the

The Study of Silicon Stepped Surfaces as Atomic Force Microscope Calib Standards With a Calibrated AFM at NIST

September 29, 2005
Author(s)
V W. Tsai, Theodore V. Vorburger, Ronald G. Dixson, Joseph Fu, R Koning, Richard M. Silver, Edwin R. Williams
Due to the limitations of modern manufacturing technology, there is no commercial height artifact at the sub-nanometer scale currently available. The single-atom steps on a cleaned silicon (111) surface with a height of 0.314 nm, derived from the lattice

Critical Dimension Reference Features with Sub-Five Nanometer Uncertainty

May 30, 2005
Author(s)
Michael W. Cresswell, Ronald G. Dixson, William F. Guthrie, Richard A. Allen, Christine E. Murabito, Brandon Park, Joaquin (. Martinez, Amy Hunt
The implementation of a new type of HRTEM-imaging (High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy) test structure, and the use of CD-AFM (CD-Atomic Force Microscopy) to serve as the transfer metrology have resulted in reductions in the uncertainties

Comparison of SEM and HRTEM CD-Measurements Extracted from Monocrystalline Tes-Structures Having Feature Linewidths from 40 nm to 240 nm

April 18, 2005
Author(s)
Michael W. Cresswell, Brandon Park, Richard A. Allen, William F. Guthrie, Ronald G. Dixson, Wei Tan, Christine E. Murabito
CD measurements have been extracted from SEM and HRTEM images of the same set of monocrystalline silicon features having linewidths between 40 and 200 nm. The silicon features are incorporated into a new test structure which has been designed to facilitate

Comparison of SEM and HRTEM CD-Measurements Extracted From Monocrystalline Tes-Structures Having Feature Linewidths From 40 nm to 240 nm

April 4, 2005
Author(s)
W Tan, Robert Allen, Michael W. Cresswell, Christine E. Murabito, B C. Park, Ronald G. Dixson, William F. Guthrie
CD measurements have been extracted from SEM and HRTEM images of the same set of monocrystalline silicon features having linewidths between 40 and 200 nm. The silicon features are incorporated into a new test structure which has been designed to facilitate

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

March 2, 2005
Author(s)
Michael W. Cresswell, Richard A. Allen, Ronald G. Dixson, William F. Guthrie, Christine E. Murabito, Brandon Park, Joaquin (. Martinez
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

Line Edge Roughness Metrology Using Atomic Force Microscopes

January 1, 2005
Author(s)
Ndubuisi G. Orji, Theodore V. Vorburger, Joseph Fu, Ronald G. Dixson, C Nguyen, Jayaraman Raja
Line edge roughness measurements using two types of atomic force microscopes and two types of tips are compared. Measurements were made on specially prepared samples with inscribed edge roughness of different amplitudes and wavelengths. The spatial

Linewidth Measurement from a Stitched AFM Image

January 1, 2005
Author(s)
Joseph Fu, Ronald G. Dixson, Ndubuisi G. Orji, Theodore V. Vorburger, C Nguyen
Image stitching is a technique that combines two or more images to form one composite image, which provides a field of view that the originals cannot. It has been widely used in photography, medical imaging, and computer vision and graphics. For such

Traceable Pico-Meter Level Step Height Metrology

December 1, 2004
Author(s)
Ndubuisi G. Orji, Ronald G. Dixson, Joseph Fu, Theodore V. Vorburger
The atomic force microscope (AFM) increasingly being used as a metrology tool in the semiconductor industry where the features measured are at the nanometer level and continue to decrease. Usually the height sensors of the AFM are calibrated using step