Akademska digitalna zbirka SLovenije - logo
E-resources
Peer reviewed Open access
  • True 3D Nanometrology: 3D-P...
    Thiesler, Jan; Ahbe, Thomas; Tutsch, Rainer; Dai, Gaoliang

    Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 12/2021, Volume: 22, Issue: 1
    Journal Article

    State of the art three-dimensional atomic force microscopes (3D-AFM) cannot measure three spatial dimensions separately from each other. A 3D-AFM-head with true 3D-probing capabilities is presented in this paper. It detects the so-called 3D-Nanoprobes CD-tip displacement with a differential interferometer and an optical lever. The 3D-Nanoprobe was specifically developed for tactile 3D-probing and is applied for critical dimension (CD) measurements. A calibrated 3D-Nanoprobe shows a selectivity ratio of 50:1 on average for each of the spatial directions , , and . Typical stiffness values are kx = 1.722 ± 0.083 N/m, ky = 1.511 ± 0.034 N/m, and kz = 1.64 ± 0.16 N/m resulting in a quasi-isotropic ratio of the stiffness of 1.1:0.9:1.0 in : : , respectively. The probing repeatability of the developed true 3D-AFM shows a standard deviation of 0.18 nm, 0.31 nm, and 0.83 nm for , , and , respectively. Two CD-line samples type IVPS100-PTB, which were perpendicularly mounted to each other, were used to test the performance of the developed true 3D-AFM: repeatability, long-term stability, pitch, and line edge roughness and linewidth roughness (LER/LWR), showing promising results.