Process variations in surface nano geometries manufacture on large area substrates

The need of transporting, treating and measuring increasingly smaller biomedical samples has pushed the integration of a far reaching number of nanofeatures over large substrates size in respect to the conventional processes working area windows. Dimensional stability of nano fabrication processes over large area is key to ensure the device functionality.

In this research, the process variation of sub-μm lithography processes is evaluated for different positions and features orientations, identified by produced test structures on a 100 mm diameter, 525 μm thick silicon wafer. The deviations from the target designed dimensions are quantified through AFM measurements on the silicon and on the subsequentely electroplated nickel geometries.