Abstract
SUMMARYA theoretical model is developed to describe the operation of a bright field, optical microscope intended to be used for making automated measurements of features as small as 0·3 μm. The measurement of gap lengths in magnetic recording heads and linewidths on integrated circuit photomasks is discussed in detail. Different measurement techniques are investigated theoretically and their perfomances in the presence of aberrations, focus errors and non‐ideal transducer responses are assessed.An automated measurement technique based on image shearing is presented and compared with other measurement techniques based on bright field image scanning. It is demonstrated that the automated image shearing method is much less prone to measurement errors due to system parameters.The model was used to develop an optimized design for the measurement system and a complete instrument was built. The performance of the practical measurement system agreed well with theoretical predictions. A calibration standard and a simple but accurate calibration algorithm were also developed.
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