Optimal samples for precision blind tip reconstruction

Abstract

Atomic force microscope (AFM) is the most prevalent instrument in nanometer measurement. But the tip shape has a great influence on the measurements of surface topography. Blind tip reconstruction (BTR), established by Villarrubia, provides a good solution to this problem, nevertheless, with low precision if the tip characterizer is not appropriate. In order to explore the optimal tip characterizers for precision BTR, a serial of simulation experiments were carried out. First, a tip characterizer was simulated as the combination of a nanosized sphere with a square grating for the BTR of a conical tip. The results show that rotation structures are more suitable for conical tip reconstruction than prismatic structures. Second, a cylinder structure is chosen to verify the validity as an optimal feature for conical tip reconstruction. The simulation results show that if only the equivalent cone angle of the cylinder structure is no more than the tip, such structure is suitable as a tip characterizer. Tip characterizers need to have structure with smaller equivalent cone angle so as to make enough segments of the tip touched by the local maximum point of the sample. The local maximum point of the cylinder is just the top edge. From another point of view, the edge of the pillar has a zero equivalent radius, which is the sharpest feature but not obviously in scale.