Intercomparison of lateral scales of scanning electron microscopes and atomic force microscopes in research institutes in Northern Europe

An intercomparison of lateral scales of scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and atomic force microscopes (AFM) in various research laboratories in Northern Europe was organized by the local national metrology institutes. In this paper are presented the results of the comparison, with also an example uncertainty budget for AFM grating pitch measurement. Grating samples (1D) were circulated among the participating laboratories. The participating laboratories were also asked about the calibration of their instruments. The accuracy of the uncertainty estimates seemed to vary largely between the laboratories, and for some laboratories the appropriateness of the calibration procedures could be considered. Several institutes (60% of all results in terms of En value) also had good comprehension of their measurement capability. The average difference from reference value was 6.7 and 10.0 nm for calibrated instruments and 20.6 and 39.9 nm for uncalibrated instruments for 300 nm and 700 nm gratings, respectively. The correlation of the results for both nominally 300 and 700 nm gratings shows that a simple scale factor calibration would have corrected a large part of the deviations from the reference values.