Deep-subwavelength Nanometric Image Reconstruction using Fourier Domain Optical Normalization

Published

November 5, 2015

Author(s)

Jing Qin, Richard M. Silver, Bryan M. Barnes, Hui Zhou, Ronald G. Dixson, Mark Alexander Henn

Abstract

Quantitative optical measurements of deep sub-wavelength, three-dimensional, nanometric structures with sensitivity to sub-nanometer details address an ubiquitous measurement challenge. A Fourier domain normalization approach is used in the Fourier optical imaging code to simulate the full three-dimensional scattered light field of nominally 15 nm sized structures, accurately replicating the light field as a function of the focus position. Using the full three-dimensional light field, nanometer scale details such as a 2 nm thin conformal oxide and nanometer topography are rigorously fitted for features less than 1/30th of the wavelength in size. The densely packed structures are positioned nearly an order of magnitude closer than the conventional Rayleigh resolution limit and can be measured with sub-nanometer parametric uncertainties. This approach enables a practical measurement sensitivity to size variations of only a few atoms in size using a high throughput optical configuration with broad application in measuring nanometric structures and nanoelectronic devices.

Citation

Light: Science & Applications

Volume

5

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1038/lsa.2016.38

Keywords

nanometric structures, light scattering, quantitative nanoscale microscopy, metrology, polarized light, sub-nanometer uncertainties, nanotechnology

Citation

Qin, J. , Silver, R. , Barnes, B. , Zhou, H. , Dixson, R. and , M. (2015), Deep-subwavelength Nanometric Image Reconstruction using Fourier Domain Optical Normalization, Light: Science & Applications, [online], https://doi.org/10.1038/lsa.2016.38 (Accessed November 28, 2024)