Interference optical microscopy (IOM) is a 3D nanometrology tool with sub-nanometer vertical resolution. It is widely used in both academic and industrial research and development. We have developped our own IOM in order to adress several scientific and industrial applications that would not have been possible with most standard IOM setups.

For example, we have written our own optical path difference (OPD) reconstruction algorithms [1] and compared their performance with standard reconstruction methods in white-light interference microscopy.

We also integrate the IOM to other instruments such as an Atomic Force microscope (AFM) and a nanoindentor [2], resulting in a very powerfull tool for MEMS characterization.

The full access to the individual correlograms enabled us to implement a “thickness mode”, i.e. a way to image multiple interfaces of semi-transparent layers [3]. Along the same line, a special mode have been implemented which allows to quickly image with nm resolution two surfaces which have a height difference up to 200µm.

Finally, we have used a high resolution CCD with a 2.5X Tolanski objective, which provides large field of view images (1.5mm x 1mm) with optical lateral resolution (1µm) and nanometer vertical resolution.

References:

[1] M. Jobin, A. Du and R. Foschia, NSTI Nanotech, 2, 695 (2005).

[2] M. Jobin, Ph. Passeraub and R. Foschia, Proc. SPIE, 6188, 61880T (2006)

[3] M. Jobin and R. Foschia, Microsc. Microanal., 12 (Supp2), 1774CD (2006)

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1. A dipcoating technique for isotropic surface structuration of metallic surfaces
2. Local Dynamic Mechanical Analysis
3. Dynamic Nanoindentation Spectroscopy and Microscopy on thin polymer films