Interlaboratory Study on the Lithographically Produced Scanning Electron Microscope Magnification Standard Prototype

NIST is in the process of developing a new scanning electron microscope (SEM) magnification calibration reference standard useful at both high and low accelerating voltages. This standard will be useful for all applications to which the SEM is currently being used, but it has been specifically tailored to meet many of the particular needs of the semiconductor industry. A small number of test samples with the pattern were prepared on silicon substrates using electron beam lithography at the National Nanofabrication Facility at Cornell University. The structures were patterned in titanium/palladium with maximum nominal pitch structures of approximately 3000 μm scaling down to structures with minimum nominal pitch of 0.4 (μm. Eighteen of these samples were sent out to a total of 35 university, research, semiconductor and other industrial laboratories in an interlaboratory study. The purpose of the study was to test the SEM instrumentation and to review the suitability of the sample design. The laboratories were asked to take a series of micrographs at various magnifications and accelerating voltages designed to test several of the aspects of instrument performance related to general SEM operation and metrology. If the instrument in the laboratory was used for metrology, the laboratory was also asked to make specific measurements of the sample. In the first round of the study (representing 18 laboratories), data from 35 instruments from several manufacturers were obtained and the second round yielded information from 14 more instruments. The results of the analysis of the data obtained in this study are presented in this paper.