NIST Develops Advanced Optical Metrology for Nanoscale Manufacturing
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed new optical microscopy techniques that enable precise measurement of nanoscale structures, with potential applications in semiconductor manufacturing and nanomanufacturing.
Key points:
– NIST has developed high-magnification optical microscopy methods that can measure nanoscale features with dimensions more than an order of magnitude below traditional resolution limits
– The new techniques use analysis of scattered light profiles and physics-based modeling to achieve sub-wavelength sensitivity
– The methods have been adopted by the semiconductor industry for applications like optical overlay, defect inspection, and critical dimension measurement
– NIST has also launched a new effort to better describe the fundamental physics behind reductions in the optical constants of next-generation nanoelectronic materials
The new optical metrology techniques have the potential to significantly improve manufacturing process control for products incorporating billions of nanoscale features, while also enabling more accurate characterization of emerging nanoelectronic materials.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/optical-methods-3-d-nanostructure-metrology-archived
Keywords: metrology, nanoscale, nanoelectronics
