Round-robin measurements of 100- and 60-nm scales among a deep-ultraviolet laser diffractometer, a scanning electron microscope and various atomic force microscopes

An intercomparison of nanometric lateral scales, which are special one-dimensional (1D) grating standards with sub-hundred-nanometre pitches, among a deep-ultraviolet (DUV) laser diffractometer, a critical dimension scanning electron microscope (CD-SEM) and different types of atomic force microscope (AFM) was performed. The reference value and its expanded uncertainty were provided by the National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ) using an atomic force microscope with differential laser interferometers (DLI-AFM). The consistency of the measurement results obtained using the DUV laser diffractometer, CD-SEM and some AFMs was satisfactory; however, that in the measurement results obtained using other AFMs was unsatisfactory. An improvement in AFM calibration technology using nanometrological standards is required for both AFM manufacturers and AFM users, including metrology institutes.