AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session NS1-TuM

Paper NS1-TuM11
Novel Standards for Dimensional and Analytical Nanometrology

Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 11:20 am, Room 2016

Session: Nanoscale Structures and Characterization II
Presenter: T. Dziomba, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany
Authors: T. Dziomba, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany
L. Koenders, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany
P. Hinze, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany
T. Weimann, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany
M. Ritter, Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Germany
A. Kranzmann, Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Germany
M. Senoner, Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
Many measurement methods advance further into the sub-micrometer and increasingly into the nanometer range. Therefore, National Metrology Institutes (NMI) such as PTB and BAM face the challenge to develop suitable standards for characterization & traceable calibration of both spacial-analytical and purely dimensional high-resolution measurement techniques. For dimensional calibration e. g. of Scanning Probe Microscopes (SPM), we present a novel 3D standard with sub-microscopic features used as nanometric landmarks. In a certified calibration, all three coordinates of each of these nanomarkers are determined and given to the user as reference data together with the standard. The user measures the 3D standard with his instrument and compares his results with the reference data by simply applying a special software package delivered with the standard. Unlike step height and lateral standards, this new method allows a complete 3D calibration with just one type of standards. It is thereby fast and accurate. This novel 3D standard has proven to be well-suited also for other high-resolution microscopy techniques such as stereogrammetric SEM and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM). Standards for the calibration of spacial-analytical instruments such as Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometers (SIMS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) should show a clear material contrast while being topography-free. Two different concepts have been realized at PTB and BAM with success: Firstly, a system of alternating layers of well-defined thickness in the range from a few nm to several hundred nm has been deposited on a wafer, which is later cleaved so that a 1D pattern becomes accessible. Secondly, 2D analytical standards have been fabricated by placing patterns of well-defined geometry and size consisting of metal A (e. g. Au) in an environment of metal B (e. g. Ag) in a process involving several lithography steps in order to ensure that the sample is largely topography-free.