
SPM
Calibrator
Improve the accuracy of your SPM measurements using SPM Calibrator, the new standard for image accuracy.
The Problem:
Effective process controls depends on accurate dimensional measurements. Quality assurance requires fast, thorough calibration checks.
The Solution:
SPM Calibrator is a new system for calibrating scanning probe microscopes. It can help you improve the accuracy of critical dimension measurements and makes QC testing of your SPM easier.
Ordinary SPM scans may be accurate only to 5%. This can make it hard to judge whether device dimensions actually meet specifications.
SPM Calibrator consists of a reference standard and data analysis software. The output shows you how accurate your SPM is. Every SPM user benefits from the convenience of well documented calibration checks. You can improve the accuracy of your existing SPM, guided by the results from SPM Calibrator.
WHY SETTLE FOR 5% ACCURACY WHEN YOU CAN HAVE 0.5%?
Product Description
Overall Benefits:
- Easier testing of your SPM.
- Improved accuracy of critical dimension measurements.
- Accuracy: 0.5% (1 std. dev.).
Features and Benifits:
- Holographic fabrication - assures high accuracy and precision.
- Pattern height > 100nm - provide excellent image contrast.
- Uniform coverage of entire chip - save time (can image anywhere).
Description:
- Nominal calibrated dimensions: 300 or 700 nm.
- Calibration certificate: supplied with each sample, stating the dimension to the nearest 1 nm.
- Pattern types: 1- or 2—Dimensional. The calibrated dimension is the same for both axes for the 2-D standard.
- Feature geometry:
-parallel ridges (1-D, 300 or 700nm)
-cylindrical posts (2-D 300nm)
-diamond-shaped posts (2-D 700nm) - Physical Size: 3 mm x 4 mm x 0.5mm.
- Substrate: Silicon wafer.
- Top surface: Tungsten film.
The 1-D standards can be scanned using any AFM mode, including contact mode. The 2-D standards can be scanned using modes such as Tapping Mode™, intermittent contact, and non-contact.

Model
150-1D
Accurate measurements of sub 0.5 micron features are increasingly important as nanotechnology develops and as conventional microfabricated structures (semiconductors, magnetic data storage devices, optical data discs) shrinking. The model 150-1D with a nominal period (pitch) of 150nm, one dimensional, fabricated on a transparent substrate (Aluminum lines on glass) is the new tool to support this work.

Model
750-HD
High Durability Calibration Reference Specimen for AFM and STM
Each specimen is supplied with a calibration certificate.Can be used for ATM, STM and SEM. Has been used successfully in a hot water AFM.
| Nominal pattern dimensions: | Pitch 750 nm |
| Height 100 nm | |
| Nominal specimen dimensions: | 6.35 mm diameter, 0.3 mm thick |
| Composition: | Solid Nickel |
Model
PT
Phase Imaging Test Specimen (verify TappingMode™ phase contrast and resolution).
Phase Imaging is a sharp probe, which is brought into proximity with the specimen surface. The probe is oscillated vertically near its mechanical resonance frequency. As the probe lightly taps the surface the amplitude of oscillation is reduced and the AFM uses this change in amplitude in order to track the surface topography. In addition to its amplitude, the probe motion can be characterized by its phase relative to a driving oscillator. The phase signal changes when the probe encounters regions of different composition. Phase shifts are registered as bright and dark regions in phase images, comparable to the way height changes are indicated in height images.
Phase images often show extraordinary contrast for many composite surfaces of technological and scientific interest. These include contamination deposits, discontinuous (i.e. defective) thin films devices built of composite materials (e.g. magnetic recording heads), and cross-sectional specimens of composite materials. Both inorganic and organic materials can be examined. We have found that phase imaging is more convenient and gentler than other methods, which are based on contact mode operation. It routinely achieves lateral resolution of 10 nm.
References
1.Pereira, D.E.D. & Claudio-da-Silva, Jr., E. "Improvement of AFM as an analytical Instrument for Residual Lignin Characterization" in: Proceedings International Symposium on Wood and Pulping Chemistry, Helsinki, Finland, June 1995.
2.Pereira, D.E.D., Chernoff. D., & Claudio-da-Silva, Jr.,E., & Cemuner, B.J "The use of AFM to investigate the delignificalion process: Part 1-AFM performance by differentiating pulping processes", to be published.
Ordering for Calibrator only
SEM High Magnification
The following image was captured with
a magnification setting of 100kX and
accelerating voltage 10 kV

AFM Tapping Mode Scan

The bump height is about 90 nm. This specimen is not recommended as a height reference because it is not easy for the standard AFM probes to reach the substrate level between the pumps.
SEM Medium Magnification

At 5 kX, the individual bumps were still well resolved. Large fields of view show how few defects are present.
The most common defects are single missing bumps or a single extra bump inserted between lattice positions. Two vacancies are present in the image shown here.
Model 150-2D — Very High Reference and Traceable Standard for Resolution
Calibration AFM, SEM, Auger, and FIB
General Purpose – High Precision
A precision, holographic pattern provides accurate calibration in the horizontal plane for very high resolution, nanometer-scale measurements.
Period: 144 nm pitch, two-dimensional array. Accurate to ± 1 nm. Refer to calibration certificate for actual pitch.
Surface: Aluminum bumps on Silicon, 4x3 mm die. Bump height (about 90 nm) and width (about 75 nm) are not calibrated.
For AFM, use in contact, intermittent contact (TappingMode™) and other modes with image sizes from 250 nm to 10 mm. Available un-mounted or mounted on 12 mm steel disks.
For SEM, an independent analytical lab has tested this specimen in a FE-SEM (field emission scanning electron microscope). They found that the pattern was very uniform and the specimen was easy to image. No significant charging was observed in the voltage range 1- 20 kV.
Usability: the calibrated pattern covers the entire chip. There is sufficient usable area to make tens of thousands of measurements without reusing any areas altered or contaminated by previous scans.
MODEL 150-2D:
This Calibration Reference specimen comes with a nontraceable, manufacturer’s certificate. These states the average period, based on batch measurements.
MODEL 150-2DUTC:
This traceable, Certified Standard is a select grade. Each standard is individually measured in comparison with a similar specimen calibrated at PTB. (PTB, Physikalisch- Technischen Bundesanstald,
is the German counterpart of NIST). The uncertainty of single pitch value is typically
±1,4 nm (95% confidence interval). Multi-pitch measurements provide the usual square-root of N improvement in precision.
Easy to use
We recommended Model 150-2D because of its unique characteristics which make it especially easy to use. The specimen is durable and it allows you can scan in contact mode, offering you faster calibration and measurements. This is the only high resolution 2D calibration specimen we have seen that offers the following characteristics:
- 2-dimensional array for simultaneous calibration of X and Y axes.
- Pitch <500 nm.
- Array of pumps mean the image contrast is high even when the probe tip is slightly dull.
- High contrast in contact mode scans.
- The pattern covers the entire die so that you don’t have to hunt for the scan area.
Ordering:
Model 150-2D is available either mounted on a steel disc or unmounted for AFM or Mounted or Unmounted for SEM.
*Please state mount desired

