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Electrical double layers play a key role in a variety of electrochemical systems. The mean free path of secondary electrons in aqueous solutions is on the order of a nanometer, making them suitable for probing ultrathin electrical double layers at solid-liquid electrolyte interfaces. Employing graphene as an electron-transparent electrode in a two-electrode electrochemical system, we show that the secondary electron yield of the graphene-liquid interface depends on the ionic strength and concentration of the electrolyte and the applied bias at the remote counter electrode. These observations have been related to polarization-induced changes in the potential distribution within the electrical double layer and demonstrate the feasibility of using scanning electron microscopy to examine and map electrified liquid-solid interfaces.

Dimensional measurements from secondary electron (SE) images were compared with those from backscattered electron (BSE) and low-loss electron (LLE) images. With the commonly used 50% threshold criterion, the lines consistently appeared larger in the SE images. As the images were acquired simultaneously by an instrument with the capability to operate detectors for both signals at the same time, the differences cannot be explained by the assumption that contamination or drift between images affected the SE, BSE, or LLE images differently. Simulations with JMONSEL, an electron microscope simulator, indicate that the nanometer-scale differences observed on this sample can be explained by the different convolution effects of a beam with finite size on signals with different symmetry (the SE signal’s characteristic peak versus the BSE or LLE signal’s characteristic step). This effect is too small to explain the >100 nm discrepancies that were observed in earlier work on different samples. Additional modeling indicates that those discrepancies can be explained by the much larger sidewall angles of the earlier samples, coupled with the different response of SE versus BSE/LLE profiles to such wall angles.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is a practical tool to determine the dimensions of nanometer-scale features. Conventional width measurements use arbitrary criteria, e.g., a 50 % threshold crossing, to assign feature boundaries in the measured SEM intensity profile. To estimate the errors associated with such a procedure, we have simulated secondary electron signals from a suite of line shapes consisting of 30 nm tall silicon lines with varying width, sidewall angle, and corner rounding. Four different inelastic scattering models were employed in Monte Carlo simulations of electron transport to compute secondary electron image intensity profiles for each of the shapes. The 4 models were combinations of dielectric function theory with either the single-pole approximation (SPA) or the full Penn algorithm (FPA), and either with or without Auger electron emission. Feature widths were determined either by the conventional threshold method or by the model-based library (MBL) method, which is a fit of the simulated profiles to the reference model (FPA + Auger). On the basis of these comparisons we estimate the error in the measured width of such features by the conventional procedure to be as much as several nanometers. A 1 nm difference in the size of, e.g., a nominally 10 nm transistor gate would substantially alter its electronic properties. Thus, the conventional measurements do not meet the contemporary requirements of the semiconductor industry. In contrast, MBL measurements employing models with varying accuracy differed one from another by less than 1 nm. Thus, a MBL measurement is preferable in the nanoscale domain.

The semiconductor industry has exploited productivity improvements through aggressive feature size reduction for over four decades. While enormous effort has been expended in developing the optical lithography tools to print ever finer features, significant advances have also been required to measure the printed features. In this article we will discuss the current state of the art in the metrology for measuring critical dimensions of printed features for scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, and describe work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology advancing these tools as well as exploratory work on two new promising techniques, scatterfield microscopy and small angle X-ray scattering. Line width roughness critical dimension and overlay metrology and control are two of the most significant industry needs mentioned in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (2005). To cite this article: S. Knight et al., C. R. Physique 7 (2006).

The shape and dimensions of a challenging pattern have been measured using a model-based library scanning electron microscope (MBL SEM) technique. The sample consisted of a 4-line repeating pattern. Lines were narrow (10 nm), asymmetric (different edge angles and significant rounding on one corner but not the other), and situated in a complex neighborhood, with neighboring lines as little as 10 nm or as much as 28 nm distant. The shape cross-section determined by this method was compared to transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and critical dimension small angle x-ray scattering (CD-SAXS) measurements of the same sample with good agreement. A recently-developed image composition method was used to obtain sharp SEM images, in which blur from vibration and drift were minimized. A Monte Carlo SEM simulator (JMONSEL) produced a model-based library that was interpolated to produce the best match to measured SEM images. Three geometrical and instrument parameterizations were tried. The first was a trapezoidal geometry. In the second one corner was significantly rounded. In the last, the electron beam was permitted to arrive with stray tilt. At each stage, the fit to the data improved by a statistically significant amount, demonstrating that the measurement remained sensitive to the new parameter. Because the measured values represent the average unit cell, the associated repeatabilities are at the tenths of a nanometer level, similar to scatterometry and other area-averaging techniques, but the SEM’s native high spatial resolution also permitted observation of defects and other local departures from the average.

To the extent that tips are not perfectly sharp, images produced by scanned probe microscopies (SPM) such as atomic force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy are only approximations of the specimen surface. Tip-induced distortions are significant whenever the specimen contains features with aspect ratios comparable to the tip's. Treatment of the tip-surface interaction as a simple geometrical exclusion allows calculation of many quantities important for SPM dimensional metrology. Algorithms for many of these are provided here, including the following: (1) calculating an image given a specimen and a tip (dilation), (2) reconstructing the specimen surface given its image and the tip (erosion), (3) reconstructing the tip shape from the image of a known "tip characterizer" (erosion again), and (4) estimating the tip shape from an image of an unknown tip characterizer (blind reconstruction). Blind reconstruction, previously demonstrated only for simulated noiseless images, is here extended to images with noise or other experimental artifacts. The main body of the paper serves as a programmer's and user's guide. It includes theoretical background for all of the algorithms, detailed discussion of some algorithmic problems of interest to programmers, and practical recommendations for users.

In-line, non-destructive process control metrology of high aspect ratio (HAR) holes and trenches has long been a known gap in metrology. Imaging the bottoms of at-node size contact holes in oxide with aspect rations beyond 10:1 has not yet been demonstrated. Nevertheless, holes and trenches of 30:1, 40:1, or even 60:1 will soon enter production, with these etches being applied to various homogeneous and multi-layer stacks of Si and SiO2. The need comes from Moore's Law and increasing functional density on microchips, on which true 3D memory devices will soon be manufactured. These can take many different forms, but a common building block will be these ultra-HAR etched features. In this work, we show experimental results and simulations from the NIST JMONSEL program to assess the feasibility of measuring such features using both conventional low voltage scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and higher beam energies and low vacuum conditions to ameliorate charging. In our measurements, higher voltage SEM did not improve upon conventional critical dimension (CD)-SEM. Simulations suggest the reason is a failure to overcome a negative oxide potential. Although a signal can in principle be detected from the bottom of contact holes in typical imaging conditions in the CD-SEM, it is likely that it will be very small and possibly below the noise floor.

Our world is three-dimensional, and so are the integrated circuits (ICs), they have always been. In the past, for a long time, we have been very fortunate, because it was enough to measure a simple critical dimension (CD), the width of the resist line, to keep IC production under acceptable control. This requirement has changed in the last few years to contour and now to three-dimensional measurements. Optical lithography is printing photoresist features that are significantly smaller than the wavelength of the light used, and therefore it is indispensable to use optical proximity correction (OPC) methods. This includes modeling and compensation for various errors in the lithography process down to sub-nanometer, essentially atomic levels. The process has to rely on sophisticated and complex simulations and on accurate and highly repeatable dimensional metrology. The necessary dimensional metrology is beyond the conventional one-dimensional line width measurements, and must include two - and three-dimensional measurements of the contours and shapes of structures. Contour metrology needs accurate and highly repeatable measurements on sets and individual OPC structures, for which the critical dimension measurement scanning electron microscope (CD-SEM) is the key metrology tool. Three-dimensional (3D) metrology is now indispensable for IC technology, but current metrology tools and methods cannot fulfill the requirements. We believe that with the implementation of new methods it is feasible to develop 3D metrology that will well serve IC production, even on structures in the few nanometer-size range.

Morphological constraints inherent in the imaging process limit the possible shapes of the tip with which any given tunneling microscope or atomic force microscope image could have been taken. Broad tips do not produce narrow image protrusions. Therefore, feature sizes within the image may be used to place an upper bound on the size of the tip. In this paper, mathematical morphology is used to derive, for each point on an image, a corresponding bounding surface for the tip. The actual tip must be equal to or smaller than the largest tip which satisfies all of the constraints. Example calculations are performed, demonstrating that if the imaged specimen contains sharp features and high relief, the tip shape deduced by this method will be a good estimate of the actual one. Once known, the tip geometry can be “deconvoluted” from images to recover parts of the actual surface which were accessible to the tip.

Hybrid metrology, e.g., the combination of several measurement techniques to determine critical dimensions, is an increasingly important approach to meet the needs of the semiconductor industry. A proper use of hybrid metrology may yield not only more reliable estimates for the quantitative characterization of 3-D structures but also a more realistic estimation of the corresponding uncertainties. Recent developments at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) feature the combination of optical critical dimension (OCD) measurements and scanning electron microscope (SEM) results. The hybrid methodology offers the potential to make measurements of essential 3-D attributes that may not be otherwise feasible. However, combining techniques gives rise to essential challenges in error analysis and comparing results from different instrument models, especially the effect of systematic and highly correlated errors in the measurement on the χ2 function that is minimized. Both hypothetical examples and measurement data are used to illustrate solutions to these challenges.

The use of flared tip and bi-directional servo control in some recent atomic force microscopes (AFM) has made it possible for these advanced AFMs to image structures of general shapes with undercut surfaces. AFM images are distorted representations of sample surfaces due to the dilation produced by the finite size of the tip. It is necessary to obtain the tip shape in order to correct such tip distortion. This paper presents a noise-tolerant approach that can for the first time estimate a general 3-dimensional (3D) tip shape from its scanned image in such AFMs. It extends an existing blind tip estimation method. With the samples, images, and tips described by dexels, a representation that can describe general 3D shapes, the new approach can estimate general tip shapes, including reentrant features such as undercut lines.

NIST is currently developing two Reference scanning electron microscopes (SEMs), which are based on FEI Nova 600* variable vacuum, and on FEI Helios* dual-beam instruments. These were installed in the new Advanced Metrology Laboratory at NIST where the temperature variation is under 0.1 C° and the humidity variation is under 1%. Both SEMs are equipped with field emission electron guns and are capable of better than 1 nm spatial resolution. The ESEM has large sample capability, allowing for measurements on 200 mm wafers, 300 mm wafers and 150 mm photolithography masks, with a 100 mm by 100 mm measurement area in the center. The dual-beam instrument's laser stage will work on smaller samples and has a 50 mm by 50 mm measurement area. The variable vacuum instrument is especially suitable for measurements on a large and diverse set of samples without the use of conductive coating. These will be among the most scrutinized of SEMs. A detailed, thorough work of combined measurements and optimization of the SEMs themselves is underway, which includes the assessment of resolution, signal transfer characteristics, distortion and noise characteristics in various working modes. Accurate three-dimensional modeling, including all aspects of beam formation, signal generation, detection and processing is under development. Establishment of modeling and measurement methods to ascertain the threedimensional shape and size of the electron beam is also underway. All these are needed to properly interpret the obtained data in accurate, physics-based measurements and will permit three-dimensional size and shape determination on a scale ranging from a few nanometers up to a few centimeters. Accuracy and traceability will be ensured through calibrated laser interferometry.

Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we have studied the structural modifications induced by Cl upon reaction with Si(111)-(7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}7). At low coverages, reacted and unreacted sites are distinguishable in both current-voltage curves and topographs. At saturation coverage, annealing produces extensive mass transport in which most of the adatom layer is stripped away and accumulated in pyramidal Si structures, permitting the complete underlying Si rest-atom layer to be imaged. Much of this layer initially exists as nearly-adatom-free Cl-stabilized 7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}7 domains, but further annealing converts it slowly to the more favorable bulklike 1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1 structure. Structures intermediate between the 7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}7 and 1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1 are observed.

CD-AFMs (critical dimension atomic force microscopes) are instruments with servo-control of the tip in more than one direction. With appropriately "boot-shaped" or flared tips, such instruments can image vertical or even undercut features. As with any AFM, the image is a dilation of the sample shape with the tip shape. Accurate extraction of the CD requires a correction for the tip effect. Analytical methods to correct images for the tip shape have been available for some time for the traditional (vertical feedback only) AFMs, but were until recently unavailable for instruments with multi-dimensional feedback. Dahlen et al. [J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B23, pp. 2297-2303, (2005)] recently introduced a swept-volume approach, implemented for 2-dimensional (2D) feedback. It permits image simulation and sample reconstruction, techniques previously developed for the traditional instruments, to be extended for the newer tools. We have introduced [X. Qian and J. S. Villarrubia, Ultramicroscopy, in press] an alternative dexel-based method, that does the same in either 2D or 3D. This paper describes the application of this method to sample shapes of interest in semiconductor manufacturing. When the tip shape is known (e.g., by prior measurement using a tip characterizer) a 3D sample surface may be reconstructed from its 3D image. Basing the CD measurement upon such a reconstruction is shown here to remove some measurement artifacts that are not removed (or are incompletely removed) by the existing measurement procedures.

Measurements of critical dimensions (CDs), roughness, and other dimensional aspects of semiconductor electronics products rely upon secondary electron (SE) images in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). These images are subject to artifacts at the nanometer size scale that is relevant for many of these measurements. The most accurate measurements for this reason depend upon models of the probe-sample interaction in order to perform corrections. MONSEL, a Monte Carlo simulator intended primarily for CD metrology, has been providing the necessary modeling. However, restrictions on the permitted sample shapes are increasingly constraining as the industry's measurement needs evolve towards inherently 3-dimensional structures. We report here results of a collaborative project, in which the MONSEL physics has been combined with the 3D capabilities of NISTMonte, another NIST Monte Carlo simulator that was previously used principally to model higher energy electrons and x-rays. Results from the new simulator agree very closely with the original MONSEL for samples within the repertoire of both codes. The new code's predicted SE yield variation with angle of incidence agrees well with preexisting measurements for light, medium, and heavy elements. Capabilities of the new code are demonstrated on a model of a FinFET transistor.

Despite many studies of subsurface imaging of carbon nanotube (CNT)-polymer composites via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), significant controversy exists concerning the imaging depth and contrast mechanisms. We studied CNT-polyimide composites and, by three-dimensional reconstructions of captured stereo-pair images, determined that the maximum SEM imaging depth was typically hundreds of nanometers. The contrast mechanisms were investigated over a broad range of beam accelerating voltages from 0.3 to 30 kV, and ascribed to modulation by embedded CNTs of the effective secondary electron (SE) emission yield at the polymer surface. This modulation of the SE yield is due to non-uniform surface potential distribution resulting from current flows due to leakage and electron beam induced current. The importance of an external electric field on SEM subsurface imaging was also demonstrated. The insights gained from this study can be generally applied to SEM nondestructive subsurface imaging of conducting nanostructures embedded in dielectric matrices such as graphene-polymer composites, silicon-based single electron transistors, high resolution SEM overlay metrology or e-beam lithography, and have significant implications in nanotechnology.

The measurement of line-edge roughness (LER) has recently become a major topic of concern in the litho-metrology community and the semiconductor industry as a whole, as addressed in the 2001 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) roadmap. The Advanced Metrology Advisory Group (AMAG, a council composed of the chief metrologists from the International SEMATECH (ISMT) consortium’s Member Companies and from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has begun a project to investigate this issue and to direct the critical dimension scanning electron microscope (CD-SEM) supplier community towards a semiconductor industry-backed solution for implementation. The AMAG group has designed and built a 193 nm reticle that includes structures implementing a number of schemes to intentionally cause line edge roughness of various spatial frequencies and amplitudes. The lithography of these structures is in itself of interest to the litho-metrology community and will be discussed here. These structures, along with several other photolithography process variables, have been used to fabricate a set of features of varying roughness value and structure which span the LER process space of interest. These references are, in turn, useful for evaluation of LER measurement capability. Measurements on different CD-SEMs of major suppliers were used to demonstrate the current state of LER measurement. These measurements were compared to roughness determined off-line by analysis of top-down images from these tools. While no official standard measurement algorithm or definition of LER measurement exists, definitions used in this work are presented and compared in use. Repeatability of the measurements and factors affecting their accuracy were explored, as well as how CD-SEM parameters can affect the measurements.

The production of state-of-the-art integrated circuits requires better dimensional metrology than is currently available. The reliance on precision alone will not deliver the needed, close to atomic level performance. Without thorough analysis of the accuracy and precision performance of the metrology tools it is impossible to fulfill the requirements dimensional metrology has to meet. WIth the implementation and use of the existing, internationally accepted and recommended guidelines for evaluating and expressing the results and uncertaintly of measurements these problems can be minimized and ultimately overcome. These guidelines spell out the proper way of dealign with measurment results and their use will uncover substantial hidden problems that hold back the performance of current metrology tools. Possibilities for further improvements will also present themselves. This paper describes the present and preferred way of handling dimensional measurement results for integrated circuit technology and gives a detailed list of possible errors and sources measurement inaccuracy and uncertainty found in scanning electron microscopes.

Optical scatterometry has attracted a great deal of interest for linewidth measurement due to its high repeatability and capability of measuring sidewall shape. We have developed an analogous and complementary technique for the scanning electron microscope. The new method, like scatterometry, measures shape parameters (e.g., wall angles) as well as feature widths. Also like scatterometry, it operates by finding a match between the measured signal from an unknown sample and a library of signals calculated for known samples. A physics-based model of the measurement is employed for the calculation of libraries. The method differs from scatterometry in that the signal is an image rather than a scattering pattern, and the probe particles are electrons rather than photons. Because the electron-sample interaction is more highly localized, isolated structures or individual structures within an array can be measured. Results of this technique were compared to an SEM cross section for an isolated polycrystalline silicon line. The agreement was better than 2 nm for the width and 0.2{degrees} for wall angles, differences that can be accounted for by measurement errors arising from line edge roughness.

Metrology will remain a principal enabler for the development and manufacture of future generations of semiconductor devices. With the potential of 130 nm and 100 nm linewidths and high aspect ratio structures, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) remains an important metrology tool. This instrument is also extensively used in many phases of semiconductor manufacturing throughout the world. A challenge was recently posed in an article in Semiconductor International. That challenge was to have an accurate, production level, linewidth standard for critical dimension scanning electron microscopes available to the semiconductor industry. The potential for meeting this challenge is explored in this paper.

At the National Institute of Standards and Technology, we are building a metrology instrument called the Molecular Measuring Machine (M3) with the goal of performing nanometer- accuracy two-dimensional feature placement measurements over a 50 mm by 50 mm area. The instrument uses a scanning tunneling microscope to probe the surface and an interferometer system to measure the lateral probe movement, both having sub-nanometer resolution. The continuous vertical measurement range is 5 micrometer, and up to 2 mm can be covered by stitching overlapping ranges. The instrument includes temperature control with millikelvin stability, an ultra-high vacuum environment with a base pressure below 10-5 Pa, and seismic and acoustic vibration isolation. Pitch measurements were performed on gratings made by holographic exposure of photoresist and on gratings made by laser-focused atomic deposition of Cr. The line pitch for these gratings ranged from 200 nm to 400 nm with an estimated standard uncertainty of the average pitch of 25 X 10-6. This fractional uncertainty is derived from an analysis of the sources of uncertainty for a 1 mm point-to- point measurement, including the effects of alignment, Abbe offset, motion cross-coupling, and temperature variations. These grating pitch measurements are uniquely accomplished on M3 because of the combination of probe resolution and long-range interferometer-controlled stage. This instrument could uniquely address certain dimensional metrology needs in the data storage industry.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

We at NIST are building a metrology instrument called the Molecular Measuring Machine (MMM) with the goal of performing 2D point-to-point measurements with one nanometer accuracy cover a 50 mm by 50 mm area. The instrument combines a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to probe the surface and a Michelson interferometer system to measure the probe movement, both with sub-nanometer resolution. The instrument also feature millidegree temperature control at 20 degrees C, an ultra-high vacuum environment with a base pressure below 10-5 Pa, and seismic and acoustic vibration isolation. High-accuracy pitch measurements have been performed on 1D gratings. In one experiment, the MMM STM probe imaged an array of laser-focused, atomically deposited chromium lines over an entire 5 micrometers by 1 mm area. Analysis of the data yielded an average line spacing of 212.69 nm with a 5 pm standard uncertainty. The uncertainty estimate is derived for an analysis of the sources of uncertainty for a 1 mm point-to-point measurement, including the effects of alignment, Abbe offset, motion cross-coupling, and temperature variations. In another measurement, the STM probe continuously tracked a holographically-produced grating surface for 10 mm, counting out 49,996 lines and measuring an average line spacing of 200.011 nm with a 5 pm standard uncertainty.

We are developing the instrumentation and prototype samples at NIST to enable the counting of atom-spacings across linewidth features etched in silicon. This is an effort to allow the accurate counting of atom-spacings across a feature in a controlled environment and to subsequently transfer that dimensionally stabilized artifact to other measuring instruments. In this paper we will describe the sample preparation techniques, sample configurations and imaging instrumentation used in this project. We have constructed a multi-chamber ultra-high vacuum (UHV) system with silicon processing capabilities which include the high temperature removal of native oxides and the appropriate temperature control and vacuum environment for preparing long range atomically ordered silicon surfaces. We can also passivate the silicon surfaces by oxidation in a temperature and pressure controlled environment or simply allow a native oxide to grow in an air ambient. This facility has a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) with atomic lateral imaging capabilities and a 0.2 angstrom vertical noise floor. The loadlock chamber allows rapid transfer of multiple tips and samples into the UHV environment. The facility is additionally equipped with a field-ion/field-electron microscope (FIFEM) which can atomically image, measure, and prepare the STM tips. The FIFEM enables the use of STM tips of known dimensions and cleanliness on a regular basis.

In scanned probe microscopy, it is necessary to know the tip's geometry in order to correct image distortions due to its finite size. Heretofore, methods have focused upon determining the tip shape by erosion of a 'tip characterizer' of known geometry from its image. Three dimensional knowledge of the characterizer with uncertainties small at the size scale of the tip is a prerequisite for this method. The necessary accuracy is often difficult to meet in practice, particularly for characterizers with relief on the order of a micrometer such as are required to measure tips for use with microlithographic specimens A recently proposed alternative, blind reconstruction, permits estimation of the tip shape even with an unknown tip characterizer. The method relies upon the fact that tips which are too blunt are inconsistent with observed image features. For each pixel on a measured image, one may determine a corresponding outer bound on the tip shape. The actual tip must be consistent with the bounds determined for all image points. For well-chosen characterizers, blind reconstruction provides a good estimate of the tip geometry. Although this method eliminates the need for separate calibration of the tip characterizer, it is more computationally intensive than reconstruction by erosion. Blind reconstruction is reviewed, and a strategy for decreasing the computation time is discussed. A factor of three or more may be saved for typical images in an exact calculation, while an additional factor of ten or more may be saved by restoring to approximate methods.

Measurements of the linewidths of submicrometer features made by different metrology techniques have frequently been characterized by differences of up to 90 nm. The purpose of the work reported here is to address the special difficulties that this phenomenon presents to the certification of reference materials for the calibration of linewidth-measurement instruments. Accordingly, a new test structure has been designed, fabricated, and undergone preliminary tests. Its distinguishing characteristics are assured cross-sectional profile geometries with known side-wall slopes, surface planarity, and compositional uniformity when it is formed in mono-crystalline material at selected orientations to the crystal lattice. To allow the extraction of electrical linewidth, the structure is replicated in a silicon film of uniform conductivity which is separated from the silicon substrate by a buried oxide layer. The utilization of a Silicon-On-Insulator (SKI) substrate further allows the selective removal of substrate material from local regions below the reference features, thus facilitating measurements by optical and electron-beam transmission microscopy. The combination of planar feature surfaces having known side-wall slopes is anticipated to eliminate factors which are believed to be responsible for methods divergence in linewidth measurements, a capability which is a prerequisite for reliable certification of the linewidths of features on reference materials.

NIST personnel (J.S. and T.M.) visited 23 IC manufacturing companies and equipment suppliers during 1994 to determine semiconductor industry needs for scanned probe metrology. NIST has initiated projects addressing some of the need identified. When complete these projects will enable improved metrology using the scanned probe microscope. Industry needs include pitch, height, angle, and width calibration artifacts, and understanding of the effect of humidity on AFM measurements, and tip metrology techniques. To meet these needs we have designed and built a Calibrated Atomic Force Microscope (C-AFM) with interferometric position control. This AFM is capable of making accurate measurements. We present the operational characteristics of the instrument, accurate X, Y, and Z pitch measurements on a commercially available artifact, measurements on a prototype surface roughness artifact, and a promising technique by which to make accurate linewidth measurements.

The various products from the reaction of chlorine (Cl) with the adatom layer of the Si(111)-(7x7) surface have been identified with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Initially, a single Cl atom reacts with the adatom dangling bond. At higher surface coverage, additional Cl atoms insert themselves into the Si-Si backbonds between the adatom and rest-atom layers, producing adatoms that have reacted with two or three Cl atoms. These products are characterized by different registries with respect to the underlying rest layer and appear in STM images as adatoms of different sizes, consistent with the breaking of Si-Si backbonds and the formation ofnew Si-Cl bonds.

In topographs produced by scanned probe microscopy, positive-going surface features are broadened due to the non-vanishing tip size. This well-known imaging artifact is of particular importance for feature width or surface microroughness determinations. Its correction requires a 3-d model of the tip.Most proposed methods of tip estimation begin with the same set of experimental conditions and model assumptions. Experimentally, a special specimen (a “tip characterizer”) is imaged with the unknown tip. The image model assumes the image is formed by contact of the tip with the surface at one or more points without significant bending of the tip or compression of the surface. Under these circumstances, it has been shown1 that I = S ⊕ P, where S is the set of all points in the specimen, P a reflection of the tip through the origin, I the image, and ⊕ denotes dilation.

Atomic force microscopes are being used increasingly for process metrology. As a case study, the measurement by atomic force microscope of a soda lime glass optical disk patterned using optical lithography and reactive plasma etching is examined. The atomic force microscope used for this measurement has a highly accurate scanner system. The X, Y, and Z axes are calibrated using laser interferometry. To determine the shape of the tip used a commercially available tip calibration artifact was imaged both before and after the measurement. The image was corrected for the tip shape using mathematical morphology. The value of the atomic force microscope measurement is defined to be the impacts of the metrology on the product or process. It is shown that the value of atomic force microscopy process metrology on an optical disk is increased by using an accurate scanner, tip characterization, and morphological image analysis; however, the cost per measurement is increased as well. In general, the characteristics o...

In scanned probe microscopy the image is a combination of information from the sample and the tip. In order to reconstruct the true surface geometry, it is necessary to know the actual tip shape. It has been proposed that this shape may be reconstructed from images of ‘‘tip characterizer’’ artifacts of independently known shape. The requirements for this strategy—dimensional uncertainty and instability of the characterizer small compared to the tip size—are not trivial. An alternative is ‘‘blind reconstruction,’’ which requires no information about the characterizer geometry apart from that contained within its image, yet produces an outer bound on the tip shape which for appropriately chosen characterizers is a good approximation. With blind reconstruction dimensional instability of characterizers is less problematical, and characterizer measurability is no longer a constraint, so more complex distributed characterizer geometries may be advantageously employed. In situations where part of a characterizer has a known shape, blind reconstruction and the known‐characterizer method may be combined.