Nanoscale Metrology

Abstract

The quantitative determination of the properties of micro and nanostructures is essential in research and development and is a prerequisite for industrial process control and quality assurance. Knowledge of the geometrical dimensions of structures is, in most cases, the base to which other physical and chemical properties are linked. Quantitative measurements presuppose reliable and stable instruments, together with suitable calibration artefacts and measurement procedures.This special issue of Measurement Science and Technology presents selected contributions from the Nanoscale 2006 seminar held at the Swiss Federal Office of Metrology (METAS), Bern, in April 2006. This was the 3rd Seminar on Nanoscale Calibration Standards and Methods and the 7th Seminar on Quantitative Microscopy (the first being held in in 1995). The seminar was jointly organized by the Nanometrology Group within EUROMET (The European Collaboration in Measurement Standards) and the German Nanotechnology Competence Centre 'Ultraprecise Surface Figuring' (CC-UPOB). The contributions in this special issue are divided into three parts: developments and improvements of instrumentation and measurement methods, calibration of instruments and standards, and applications.The papers in the first part report on new or improved instrumentation, such as new probes for micro CMMs and scanning force microscopes (SFMs), and an SFM for investigating tip--sample interactions. A feasibility study of an instrument for the accurate measurement of forces in the nanonewton range is also presented, emphasizing the requirement for well-defined forces in the micro- and nanonewton range for accurate tactile instruments, including SFMs and nanoindentation instruments.In the second part the contributions are related to calibration strategies and calibration of scanning force microscopes. The production and calibration of standards, for pitch, step height and line width measurement, is described together with methods to correct for the effects of tip shape. The in situ determination of Abbe errors and their correction as well as the reduction of the uncertainty of instruments is the subject in two papers.The third part deals with applications of nanoscale dimensional metrology. Papers are presented that describe a comparison of methods used to determine properties of nanoparticles, the characterization of the critical dimensions (CD) of nanostructures using scanning electron microscopy, some applications of the Nano Measuring Machine, and the use of SFMs to detect the damage of surfaces by tactile probes and to study cross-sections of columnar thin films.The production of this issue involved considerable effort from many contributors. We would like to thank all the authors for their contributions, and the referees for their time spent reviewing the contributions and their valuable comments.