Small-angle X-ray scattering analyzes chip circuitry.(Testing/Analysis)

Advanced Materials & Processes, February, 2004

Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), a technology with precision greater than 1 nm, has been adapted for rapidly measuring the dimensions of chip circuitry composed of millions of nanometer-scale devices by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md. The technique is said to be rapid and versatile, and can be used to evaluate the quality of surface and subsurface patterns smaller than 100 nm.

With precision better than 1 nm, the average size of periodically repeating features arrayed in one- and two-dimensional patterns on three chemically different samples has been measured. In proof-of-concept experiments, information was gathered within a second over an area about 40 microns square. Images assembled from X-rays...

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