The Sub-Atomic Measuring Machine

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A subatomic measuring machine with a lateral range of 25 x 25 mm and a vertical range of100 um is to be built. A previously developed stage will be used as a base. Building the world's most accurate measuring machine for atomic-scale features over IC-chip size sample is immediately to provide a novel instrument for the metrology of integrated circuits. Principles applicable to the design of wafer steppers and scanners for the production of integrated circuits in 0.1 um and smaller feature sizes are going to also be demonstrated. Thus, both metrology and manufacturing machine design techniques will be developed. Major tasks are to develop a metrology near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) or other scanned probe microscope that has the inherent accuracy of the system, to measure a sample grid plate (mask) that was manufactured by Hewlett Packard and calibrated at the Physikalische Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Germany and to use self-calibration techniques to map all of the errors of the stage to a level at least a factor of IO better than current instruments. The project is likely to generate the methodology and instrumentation necessary to push positioning of macroscopic objects to subatomic accuracies over commercially significant ranges. These accuracies and ranges will be required by the next generation of micro-circuits.