Fabrication and Quality Evaluation of 2~10μm Step Height Reference Material Candidates
LIU Di1,3,WANG Chenying2,3,ZHANG Yaxin1,3,WANG Yunxiang4,WANG Song1,3,CHEN Luntao1,3,WANG Yonglu3,ZHU Nan3,JIANG Zhuangde1,3
1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi′an Jiaotong University, Xi′an, Shaanxi 710049, China
2. School of Instrument Science and Technology, Xi′an Jiaotong University, Xi′an, Shaanxi 710049, China
3. State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi′an Jiaotong University,Xi′an, Shaanxi 710049, China
4. Suzhou Institute of Metrology, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215128, China
Abstract:The micrometer step height reference materials can used to calibrate the z-axis performance of the instrument and transmit accurate micrometer height values. The step height reference material candidates with 2,5,10μm nominal size are prepared by photolithography combined with dry etching. The height, roughness, and parallelism of the steps are characterized. Using a laser confocal microscope and an aspheric measuring instrument for measurement, the step height is evaluated based on the bilateral algorithm, histogram method, International Organization for Standardization (ISO algorithm, and the decoupling criterion for optical microscopy (LEL) method. For the same reference material candidates, the standard deviation between each evaluation method does not exceed 0.024μm. Moreover, the relative deviation of the step height evaluation values is within 5%. This indicates that the evaluation results obtained using different algorithms and instruments have a high level of consistency and reliable measurement values. The comparison of evaluation results from different instruments indicates that the evaluation methods also have good consistency. Meanwhile, the roughness does not exceed 0.04μm. The parallelism of the upper and lower surfaces does not exceed 0.03°, which verifies the good preparation effect of the reference material candidates.
XU X Q, LI S Y, FENG Y N, et al. Quality parameter evaluation of micro-nano sized step height samples[J]Metrology & Measurement Technology, 2016, 36(S1): 29-32.
ZHANG Y X, WANG C Y, JING W X, et al. Study on the controllable fabrication and calibration of sub-50 nm step height reference materials[J]. Chinese Journal of Scientific Instrument, 2022, 43(11): 86-93.
FENG Y N, LI S Y, HAN Z G, et al. Selection of the Etching Processes for the fabrication of the Micro Step Height Specimens[J]. Micronanoelectronic Technology, 2016, 53(11): 773-778.
WU X T, WANG S H, ZHONG Y N, et al. Applicability Analysis of Step Height Evaluation Algorithm[J]. Journal of Hubei University of Automotive Technology, 2018, 32(3): 32-36.
BENNETT J M. Comparison of instruments for measuring step heights and surface profiles[J]. Applied Optics, 1985, 24(22): 3766.
[15]
LIU J, LI M, LI Q, et al. Decoupling criterion based on limited energy loss condition for groove measurement using optical scanning microscopes[J]. Measurement Science & Technology, 2016, 27(12): 125014.
CHENG Y T, LIU C Q, WU H. Ion Beam Etching Technology and Analysis of Common Failures of the Equipment[J]. Equipment for Electronic Products Manufacturing, 2021, 50(5): 33-38.
XU Y, GAO S T, LI J. Nanometer and Sub-micrometer Standard Samples and Valuation Traceability for SPM[J]. Acta Metrologica Sinica, 2003,24(2): 81-84.
[12]
KOENING R G J, DIXSON R G, FU J, et al. Step-height metrology for data storage applications[C]// Conference on Recent Advances in Metrology, Characterization, and Standards for Optical Digital Data Disks. DENVER, CO, United States,1999.
YANG S, LI C, WANG C, et al. A sub-50nm three-step height sample for AFM calibration[J]. Measurement Science & Technology, 2014, 25(12): 125004-125011.