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A schematic of graphene nanoribbon field-effect transistor with palladium contacts (S,D) on a 10 nm thick insulating silicon dioxide surface (purple). Beneath the Si02 layer is a highly conductive silicon layer (G). Credit: Stanford University.

Stanford chemists have developed a new way to make transistors out of carbon nanoribbons. The devices could someday be integrated into high-performance computer chips to increase their speed and generate less heat, which can damage today’s silicon-based chips when transistors are packed together tightly.

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Woodbury, NY — Veeco Instruments Inc., announced the introduction of its new InSight 3D Automated Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) Platform, the only metrology system available with the accuracy and precision required for non-destructive, high resolution three-dimensional (3D) measurements of critical 45nm and 32nm semiconductor features, with the speed to qualify as a true fab tool. Veeco’s InSight 3DAFM was designed specifically to address Critical Dimension (CD), depth and chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) metrology in a production environment.John R. Peeler, Chief Executive Officer of Veeco, commented, “With three times the throughput (30 wafers per hour) and two times the measurement accuracy and precision of our previous AFMs, Veeco’s InSight represents an entirely new approach for semiconductor 3D metrology. It is the only tool on the market today providing in-line, accurate, non-destructive 3D information, to drive shorter process development and manufacturing ramp times, improve our customers’ cost of ownership and decrease their manufacturing risk.”

“At 45nm and below, current in-line metrology techniques are limited in their ability to measure CD,” added Paul Clayton, Vice President, Veeco’s Auto AFM Business Unit. “Technologies such as CD-SEM and scatterometry are precise, but not accurate enough, causing significant measurement issues. Veeco’s InSight provides the lowest measurement uncertainty for CD metrology, which leads to improved process control.”

About InSight 3DAFM
The InSight 3DAFM features a completely new metrology platform designed to meet the stringent requirements of 45 and 32nm semiconductor metrology applications such as CD, sidewall angle and line width roughness on critical layers such as Gate and FinFet structures. The system contains a new high-precision X-Y stage with improved accuracy and a new pattern recognition system with high-precision laser auto-focus capability. In addition, new AFM control techniques and new probe designs enable improved precision, lower cost per measurement site and smaller feature measurement. Finally, system reliability is significantly enhanced to meet the demands of 45nm production-based metrology.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued its first reference standards for nanoscale particles targeted for the biomedical research community—literally “gold standards” for labs studying the biological effects of nanoparticles. The three new materials, gold spheres nominally 10, 30 and 60 nanometers in diameter, were developed in cooperation with the National Cancer Institute’s Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL).

Nanosized particles are the subject of a great deal of biological research, in part because of concerns that in addition to having unique physical properties due to their size, they also may have unique biological properties. On the negative side, nanoparticles may have special toxicity issues. On the positive side, they also are being studied as vehicles for targeted drug delivery that have the potential to revolutionize cancer treatments. Research in the field has suffered from a lack of reliable nanoscale measurement standards, both to ensure consistency of data from one lab to the next and to verify the performance of measurement instruments and analytic techniques.

False color scanning electron micrograph (250,000 times magnification) showing the gold nanoparticles created by NIST and the National Cancer Institute’s Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory for use as reference standards in biomedical research laboratories.The new NIST reference materials are citrate-stabilized nanosized gold particles in a colloidal suspension in water. They have been extensively analyzed by NIST scientists to assess particle size and size distribution by multiple techniques for dry-deposited, aerosol and liquid-borne forms of the material. Dimensions were measured using six independent methods—including atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential mobility analysis (DMA), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). At the nanoscale in particular, different measurement techniques can and will produce different types of values for the same particles.

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