Frank Widulle

Nanometrology of periodic nanopillar arrays by means of light scattering

We report on a fast and accurate shape metrology for nanoscale structures by analyzing the scattering pattern of visible light. The technique is based on model-based scatterometry which is inverse measurement technique comparing measured scattering data with numerical simulations of the scattering process using a physical model of the structures. We demonstrate the concept for an array of silicon nanopillars that are arranged in a twodimensional lattice and show that the proposed methodology provides a fast and reliable determination of the pillar dimensions with nanometer precision. Since the technique works contact-free and is applicable to large area samples, it can be readily implemented in an industrial environment for inline metrology applications.