Nanometric lateral scale development using an atomic force microscope with directly traceable laser interferometers

One-dimensional grating standards with sub-hundred nanometre pitches are required for calibration of nanometrological instruments. Nanometric lateral scales (design pitches: 100, 60 and 50 nm) for the calibration of nanometrological instruments were designed and fabricated by electron beam cell projection lithography. An offset-locked laser system consisting of an I2-stabilized He–Ne laser and a slave laser was installed in an atomic force microscope with differential laser interferometers (DLI-AFM) for the realization of a continuously, directly length-standard-traceable system and the pitches of the lateral scales were calibrated using the new DLI-AFM. The average pitches were quite close to the design pitches and the expanded uncertainties (k = 2) were less than 0.6% of the design pitches. The developed nanometric lateral scales are of sufficiently high quality and are candidates for certified reference materials (CRMs).