Nowadays, 3D geometric dimensional measurements of step height are performed on many types of samples using different instruments, such as AFM, optical microscopy, et.al. For step height measurements generally, the traceability of the z-axis is very importance. In this paper, displacement metrology in the vertical direction or z-axis is first determined, thus having a known and specific relationship between the physical edge on the sample and the location of the detected edge in the image. By consider of the location of the step, a step height is calculated by requirement of fitting to upper and lower surfaces. An algorithm is introduced to fit the upper and lower terraces. Then, we locate the edge and determine the step height by the data extrapolation of those fits. In order to reduce the uncertainty budget for step height measurements, 50nm, 100nm, 200nm, 500nm and 1000nm step height are respectively tested, and dominant sources are also discussed.
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