Developments at PTB in nanometrology for support of the semiconductor industry

Nanometrology is the science and practice of measurement of functionally important, mostly dimensional parameters on components with at least one critical dimension which is smaller than 100 nm. Although still called microelectronics, the production of semiconductor devices with smallest feature widths well below 100 nm is the economically most important part of nanotechnology nowadays and presumably in the near future. In parallel with the shrinking dimensions of the components and structures produced in the semiconductor industry, the required measurement uncertainties for dimensional metrology in this important technology field are decreasing too. This contribution will provide an overview on developments in the field of nanometrology with a special focus on the demands from the semiconductor industry from the point of view of a metrology institute.