title: Deep-subwavelength Nanometric Image Reconstruction using Fourier Domain Optical Normalization.
abstract: Quantitative optical measurements of deep sub-wavelength, three-dimensional, nanometric structures with sensitivity to sub-nanometer details address an ubiquitous measurement challenge. A Fourier domain normalization approach is used in the Fourier optical imaging code to simulate the full three-dimensional scattered light field of nominally 15 nm sized structures, accurately replicating the light field as a function of the focus position. Using the full three-dimensional light field, nanometer scale details such as a 2 nm thin conformal oxide and nanometer topography are rigorously fitted for features less than 1/30thof the wavelength in size. The densely packed structures are positioned nearly an order of magnitude closer than the conventional Rayleigh resolution limit and can be measured with sub-nanometer parametric uncertainties. This approach enables a practical measurement sensitivity to size variations of only a few atoms in size using a high throughput optical configuration with broad application in measuring nanometric structures and nanoelectronic devices.
authors.affiliation: Engineering Physics Division, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Dr. MS 8212, Gaithersburg, MD USA 20899-8212.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Engineering Physics Division, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Dr. MS 8212, Gaithersburg, MD USA 20899-8212.
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Silver
authors.affiliation: Engineering Physics Division, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Dr. MS 8212, Gaithersburg, MD USA 20899-8212.
authors.forename: Bryan M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.affiliation: Engineering Physics Division, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Dr. MS 8212, Gaithersburg, MD USA 20899-8212.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Engineering Physics Division, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Dr. MS 8212, Gaithersburg, MD USA 20899-8212.
authors.forename: Ronald G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Dixson
authors.affiliation: Engineering Physics Division, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Dr. MS 8212, Gaithersburg, MD USA 20899-8212.
authors.forename: Mark-Alexander
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Henn
keywords: computational microscopy; light scattering; metrology; quantitative nanoscale microscopy; sub-nanometer uncertainties