New research has confirmed that a technique developed previously at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Gaithersburg, MD, can enable optical microscopes to measure the 3D shape of objects at nanometer-scale resolution—far below the normal resolution limit for optical microscopy. The results could make the technique a useful quality control tool in the manufacture of nanoscale devices such as next-generation microchips.
NIST’s experiments show that Through-focus Scanning Optical Microscopy (TSOM) can reveal variations of less than 1 nanometer in size among objects less than 50 nm across. These findings should be helpful to anyone involved in manufacturing devices at the nanoscale, they said.
TSOM can be used for 3D shape analysis without complex optical simulations, making the process usable even for low-cost nanomanufacturing applications. Removing the need for simulations is another way TSOM could reduce manufacturing costs, they explained.
