Metrology: Sub-surface imaging on the nanoscale

Three-dimensional non-destructive imaging techniques are extremely important in many fields of applications such as material science and medicine. We developed an imaging technique, which utilizes extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray radiation to achieve nanometer resolution cross-sectional images. We are able to investigate for example near-surface structures in silicon chips or biological samples in three dimensions nondestructively.

In the picture on the right you can see several gold layers buried under silicon. Their positions can be measured with our metrology with an accuracy of below 1nm. The layers are located at 110 nm and 128 nm under the surface.