METHOD TO MANUFACTURE STEPPED ALTITUDE CALIBRATION STANDARD FOR PROFILOMETRY AND SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY Russian patent published in 2015 - IPC G01B7/00 

FIELD: measurement equipment.

SUBSTANCE: semiconductor plate is prepared with a vicinal surface characterised by availability of upper and lower terraces with continuous positive gradient of altitudes. The plate is placed into vacuum. Thermoelectric annealing is carried out. At first DC is passed via the plate, which causes resistive heating of the plate material to the temperature of activated sublimation of atoms in upper atomic layer. Current is passed in parallel to the vicinal surface between the upper and lower terraces. The plate is heated within the specified period of time for appearance of sections with the opposite negative gradient of altitudes relative to the initial one on single monatomic steps. Then a flux of atoms of the same sort as in the plate material is sent to the heated surface, comparable or equal to a flux of atoms leaving the surface in process of sublimation. The flux works for a period of time, providing for formation of clusters from sections of single monatomic steps with the opposite negative gradient of altitudes relative to the initial one, which contain accurately counted quantity of closely located monatomic steps with the opposite negative gradient of altitudes relative to the initial one. At both sides of clusters there are terraces, which provide for reproducible altitudes of surface relief measured with high accuracy.

EFFECT: reproducibility of measurements, higher accuracy in determination of altitude of relief features, provision of specified error of measurements, provision of the possibility of calibration by calibration standards with identical accuracy.

16 cl, 8 dwg