Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt

Tasks and aims

The investigation of structures on surfaces with high resolution microscopes has two limits: On the one hand the resolution is limited by the finite size of the probes used, as for example with scanning force microscopes, the radius R of the apex and the diameter D of the probe as well as the interactions between probe and sample. The other limit is related to the traceability of small displacements by laser interferometer due to their limited resolution and their inherent non-linearities.
Carbon nanotubes could be a probe for the highest resolutions, however, have been investigated up to now only a few times for dimensional metrology purposes. On the other hand traceable crystalline surfaces would establish a better basis for the length metrology in the nanometer range than the wavelength of lasers.

Therefore following topics will be investigated:

• Quantitative information about contributions of probe-sample interactions on the uncertainty budget
• Application of crystalline surfaces as standards for length and angle

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