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Periodic structures are often found in various areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology with many of them being used for metrological purposes either to calibrate instruments, or forming the basis of measuring devices such as encoders. Evaluating the period of one or two-dimensional periodic structures from topography measurements, e.g. performed using scanning probe microscopy, can be achieved using different methodologies with many grating evaluation methods having been proposed in the past and applied to a handful of examples. The optimum methodology for determining the grating period/pitch is not immediately obvious. This paper reports the results of extensive large-scale simulations and analysis to evaluate the performance of both direct and Fourier space data processing methods. Many thousands of simulations have been performed on a variety of different gratings under different measurement conditions and including the simulation of defects encountered in real life situations. The paper concludes with a summary of the merits and disadvantages of the methods together with practical recommendations for the measurements of periodic structures and for developing algorithms for processing them.

Angle-resolved scattering was measured for four samples of silicon exhibiting different surface roughnesses. The measurements were performed for three wavelengths: 457.9 nm, 514.5 nm, and 647.1 nm. Three approaches were used to evaluate the experimental data. The first approach corresponds to the exact formula derived using the scalar diffraction theory. This formula is quite complicated, and numerical methods must be used for its evaluation. For this reason, another two approaches representing approximations by much simpler formulae were considered. The use of several wavelengths allowed us not only to recover the power spectral density function in a limited interval of spatial frequencies but also to determine the total rms values of the heights, which represent the quantity of roughness for all spatial frequencies. The possibility of recovering the total rms values of the heights using the multi-wavelength approach is the most important result of this work. The results obtained from the scattering experiment and atomic force microscopy are compared.

We study the effect of Coulomb correlation on the emission properties of the ground state exciton in zincblende CdSe/ZnS core-shell and in wurtzite ZnO quantum dots (QDs). We validate our theory model by comparing results of computed exciton energies of CdSe/ZnS QDs to photoluminescence and scanning near-field optical microscopy measurements. We use that to estimate the diameter of the QDs using a simple model based on infinitely deep quantum well and compare the results with the statistics of the atomic force microscopy scans of CdSe/ZnS dots, obtaining excellent agreement. Thereafter, we compute the energy fine structure of exciton, finding striking difference between properties of zincblende CdSe/ZnS and wurtzite ZnO dots. While in the former the fine structure is dominated by the dipole terms of the multipole expansion of the exchange interaction, in the latter system that is mostly influenced by Coulomb correlation. Furthermore, the correlation sizeably influences also the exciton binding energy and emission radiative rate in ZnO dots.

An inhomogeneous polymer-like thin film was deposited by the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition onto silicon single-crystal substrate whose surface was roughened by anodic oxidation. The inhomogeneous thin film with randomly rough boundaries was created as a result. This sample was studied using the variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry and spectroscopic reflectometry. The structural model including the inhomogeneous thin film, transition layer, and identically rough boundaries was used to process the experimental data. The scalar diffraction theory was used to describe the influence of roughness. The influence of the scattered light registered by the spectrophotometer due to its finite acceptance angle was also taken into account. The thicknesses and optical constants of the inhomogeneous thin film and the transition layer were determined in the optical characterization together with the roughness parameters. The determined rms value of the heights of roughness was found to be in good agreement with values obtained using AFM. The results of the optical characterization of the studied inhomogeneous thin film with rough boundaries were also verified by comparing them with the results of the optical characterization of the inhomogeneous thin film prepared using the same deposition conditions but onto the substrate with a smooth surface. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

Synthetic data are of increasing importance in nanometrology. They can be used for development of data processing methods, analysis of uncertainties and estimation of various measurement artefacts. In this paper we review methods used for their generation and the applications of synthetic data in scanning probe microscopy, focusing on their principles, performance, and applicability. We illustrate the benefits of using synthetic data on different tasks related to development of better scanning approaches and related to estimation of reliability of data processing methods. We demonstrate how the synthetic data can be used to analyse systematic errors that are common to scanning probe microscopy methods, either related to the measurement principle or to the typical data processing paths.

Surface and volume imperfections can significantly affect the performance of nanoscale or microscale devices used in photonics, optoelectronics or scientific instrumentation. In this article we present an open source software package for Finite-Difference Time-Domain electromagnetic field calculations suitable for calculations on graphics cards. Its special features include handling realistic models of imperfect nanoscale objects, such as treatment of arbitrary geometries including addition of random roughness to any geometrical object. The method is compared to conventional optical approach represented by Rayleigh-Rice theory. Practical applicability is demonstrated using a calculation of variation of field enhancement at proximity of a rough nanoscale antenna and rough particle scattering. It is shown that such approach can be namely useful in the areas where many repeated calculations are necessary, e.g. when studying how the optical response of nanoscale objects can vary when they are rough. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

Quantitative Data Processing in Scanning Probe Microscopy: SPM Applications for Nanometrology, Second Edition describes the recommended practices for measurements and data processing for various SPM techniques, also discussing associated numerical techniques and recommendations for further reading for particular physical quantities measurements. Each chapter has been revised and updated for this new edition to reflect the progress that has been made in SPM techniques in recent years. New features for this edition include more step-by-step examples, better sample data and more links to related documentation in open source software. Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) techniques have the potential to produce information on various local physical properties. Unfortunately, there is still a large gap between what is measured by commercial devices and what could be considered as a quantitative result. This book determines to educate and close that gap. Associated data sets can be downloaded from http://gwyddion.net/qspm/Features step-by-step guidance to aid readers in progressing from a general understanding of SPM principles to a greater mastery of complex data measurement techniques Includes a focus on metrology aspects of measurements, arming readers with a solid grasp of instrumentation and measuring methods accuracyWorked examples show quantitative data processing for different SPM analytical techniques

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) often relies on the assumption that cantilever bending can be described by simple beam theory and that the displacement of the tip can be evaluated from the cantilever angle. Some more advanced metrological instruments use free-space or fibre interferometers for measuring the position of the cantilever apex directly, thereby simplifying the metrology traceability chain. The next logical development, covering measurements of both the cantilever apex position and its deformation due to lateral forces acting during different AFM measurement regimes, is presented in this paper. It is based on using a set of closely packed fibre interferometers that can be used to determine localised bending of the cantilever at different positions along the cantilever. This can be used for detection of cantilever deformation beyond classical beam theory, and can yield both better understanding of sources of uncertainty in individual AFM force-distance measurements and more accurate scanning in constant height mode in high-speed AFM applications.

Surface roughness plays an important role in various fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology. However, the present practices in roughness measurements, typically based on some Atomic Force Microscopy measurements for nanometric roughness or optical or mechanical profilometry for larger scale roughness significantly bias the results. Such biased values are present in nearly all the papers dealing with surface parameters, in the areas of nanotechnology, thin films or material science. Surface roughness, most typically root mean square value of irregularities Sq is often used parameter that is used to control the technologies or to link the surface properties with other material functionality. The error in estimated values depends on the ratio between scan size and roughness correlation length and on the way how the data are processed and can easily be larger than 10% without us noting anything suspicious. Here we present a survey of how large is the problem, detailed analysis of its nature and suggest methods to predict the error in roughness measurements and possibly to correct them. We also present a guidance for choosing suitable scan area during the measurement.

Čistý tetravinylsilan a jeho směsi s kyslíkem byly použity k depozici oxidovaných plazmových polymerních filmů při různém efektivním výkonu (0,1-10 W) a různých kyslíkových frakcích (0-0,71) za použití RF pulzní plazmy. Optické vlastnosti (index lomu, extinkční koeficient, mezera pásma) nanesených filmů byly zkoumány spektroskopickou elipsometrií (230-830 nm) za použití optického modelu a parametrizace Tauc-Lorentz. Analýzy chemických a mechanických vlastností filmů umožňují interpretaci změn optických vlastností s podmínkami depozice. Bylo zjištěno, že index lomu stoupá se zvýšeným efektivním výkonem v důsledku zvýšeného zesítění plazmové polymerní sítě, ale snížil se při zvýšení kyslíkové frakce vlivem poklesu polymerizačního zesíťování, protože počet uhlíkových vazeb v síti plazmového polymeru byl eliminován. Byla zjištěna velmi silná pozitivní korelace mezi Youngovým modelem a indexem lomu pro oxidované plazmové polymerní filmy. Optické vlastnosti filmů korelovaly s jejich chemickými vlastnostmi pro specifické podmínky depozice použité v této studii. Zdálo se, že pásová mezera (1,9-2,9 eV) je rozšířena kvůli zvýšené koncentraci vinylových skupin v oxidovaných plazmových polymerních filmech., Pure tetravinylsilane and its oxygen mixture were used to deposit oxidized plasma polymer films at various effective power (0.1–10 W) and various oxygen fractions (0–0.71) using RF pulsed plasma. The optical properties (refractive index, extinction coefficient, band gap) of the deposited films were investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry (230–830 nm) using an optical model and Tauc-Lorentz parametrization. Analyses of chemical and mechanical properties of films allowed for the interpretation of changes in optical properties with deposition conditions. The refractive index was revealed to increase with enhanced effective power due to the increased crosslinking of the plasma polymer network but decreased when increasing the oxygen fraction due to the decrease of polymer crosslinking as the number of carbon bonds in the plasma polymer network was eliminated. A very strong positive correlation was found between the Young’s modulus and the refractive index for oxidized plasma polymer films. The optical properties of films correlated with their chemical properties for the specific deposition conditions used in this study. The band gap (1.9–2.9 eV) was assumed to be widened due to the increased concentration of vinyl groups in oxidized plasma polymer films.