Nanoscale Standards by Metrological AFM and Other Instruments

To meet the reliability and accuracy demanded for nano-measurement results, it is necessary to calibrate apparatus using suitable standards. Until recently there were no established accepted standards for nanotechnology-related fields, and it is difficult to provide reference standards for nanoscale calibration. This makes it challenging to achieve reliable and repeatable results, particularly as calibration at this scale needs to account for the influence of external factors such as vibration, noise, thermal drift and creep, nonlinear behaviour, hysteresis, and internal factors like the interaction between the artifact and the equipment itself. It is therefore essential users understand how the standards are to be practically employed and their systems calibrated.

The purpose of this book is to help semiconductor inspection equipment users and manufacturers understand what nano-dimensional standards are used to calibrate their equipment and how to employ them effectively. Reviewing trends and developments in nano-scale standards the book starts with an introductory overview of nanometrological standards before proceeding to detail pitch standard, step height, line width, nanoparticle size, and surface roughness, which are typical nano dimensional standards.

This book is essential for users making quantitative nanoscale measurements be that in a commercial or academic research setting, or involved in engineering nanometrology for quality control in industrial applications. Here the author provides an approachable understanding and application of the nanoscale standards in a practical context across a range of common nano-scale measurement modalities, including 3D, with particular emphasis on applications to AFM, an exceptional and arguably the most common technique used in nanometrology due to the ease of use and versatility of applications