Artifacts for Calibration of Submicron Width Measurements

Artifacts that are fabricated with the help of molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) are undergoing development for use as dimensional calibration standards with sub-micron widths. Such standards are needed for calibrating instruments (principally, scanning electron microscopes and scanning probe microscopes) for measuring the widths of features in advanced integrated circuits. Dimensional calibration standards fabricated by an older process that involves lithography and etching of trenches in (110) surfaces of single-crystal silicon are generally reproducible to within dimensional tolerances of about 15 nm. It is anticipated that when the artifacts of the present type are fully developed, their critical dimensions will be reproducible to within 1 nm. These artifacts are expected to find increasing use in the semiconductor-device and integrated-circuit industries as the width tolerances on semiconductor devices shrink to a few nanometers during the next few years.