See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252065166

The PTB Nanometer Comparator for metrology

on length graduations and incremental length
encoder systems

Article · June 2009

CITATION READS

1 185

9 authors, including:

Rainer Köning Christoph Weichert

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
62 PUBLICATIONS 376 CITATIONS 39 PUBLICATIONS 163 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

EMRP IND58 6DoF : Metrology for movement and positioning in six degrees of freedom View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Rainer Köning on 17 August 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 The PTB Nanometer Comparator for metrology on
length graduations and incremental length encoder systems
J. Flügge, R. Köning, Ch. Weichert, S. Vertu, A. Wiegmann, M. Stavridis C. Elster, M. Schulz, H. Bosse

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig und Berlin

Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany
Tel.: +49-531-592-5261 Fax: +49-531-592-5205 E-mail: Jens.Fluegge@ptb.de

Abstract
The Nanometer Comparator is a high precision one-dimensional length measurement ma-
chine for investigations and calibrations of line scales, linear encoders, length gauges, pho-
tomasks and laser interferometers up to 610 mm using an interferometer in vacuum [1], which
is currently enhanced for additional straightness measurement capability. In this paper we will
give an overview of the design, the measurement results and further development steps of the
PTB Nanometer Comparator.

Keywords: Length metrology, length encoder, vacuum interferometry, double patterning

lithography

1. Introduction
One-dimensional material measures of length with graduations, like line scales or incre-
mental length encoders are widely used for calibration and control of moving axes in multi-
coordinate manufacturing machines and in complex measurement equipment, like e.g. CMM,
as well. In lithographic production of semiconductor devices, photomasks serve as templates
carrying nanostructures which are projected on resist-coated wafers by means of so-called wa-
fer scanners.
All of these one- or two-dimensional substrates carrying micro- and nanostructured grad-
uations need to be calibrated with small uncertainties. In particular, recent developments in
lithography have increased the demands on the accuracy of length and coordinate metrology
on photomasks and incremental encoder systems, now requiring calibration uncertainties
down to the sub-nm level. But also the application of new encoder systems with an additional
short-range y-axis measurement capability, which increases the accuracy of stacked 2D posi-
tioning systems, have to be characterized. Because of these requirements on high precision
position and straightness metrology the PTB vacuum length comparator, the so-called Nano-
meter Comparator, will be equipped with a second short-range measurement y-axis for
straightness measurement.

2. Design of the comparator

One major limitation for high precision length metrology under ambient conditions is the
limited accuracy of the actual wavelength determination of the used laser interferometer se-
tup. Therefore, at the PTB a special vacuum laser interferometer was chosen as the basic
component of the one-dimensional length comparator. While the measurement objects remain
under ambient conditions, as they are in typical applications, the relative displacement be-
tween measurement object and localization device of the graduation structures is measured by
an interferometer, which is completely housed in vacuum by the use of metal bellows [2].
Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the Nanometer Comparator. A massive granite
block with a weight of about 6000 kg serves as the basis of the instrument and as a guiding
surface for the air bearings of the measurement slide and the bellow slide as well, which is
used to remove the pressure and spring forces of the bellow from the measurement slide [2].

2-097
 Fig. 1. Mechanical setup of the Nanometer Comparator.

The slides are connected by carbon fiber rods to linear drives. In this way the power dis-
sipated by the motors is kept far away from the measurement loop.
The laser interferometer and its integra-
tion into the comparator principle is a key
component of the nanometer comparator [3].
The interferometer is based on the Michelson
type where the reference beam is connected to
the optical microscope. A second Michelson
interferometer compensates for angular
movements of the optical microscope. This
basic design is implemented in a heterodyne
scheme which uses separated beams for the
two frequencies to minimize interpolation
nonlinearity [4]. The light of a frequency-
doubled, iodine stabilized Nd:YAG laser is
fed to the interferometers by means of two
glass fibers. Fig. 2. Interferometer design.
Additional interferometers are used to
measure the angle deviations of the measurement slide and to correct them using piezo trans-
lators integrated in the air bearing pads [3].
A reflection mode microscope with telecentric measurement objectives is used for line
position sensing [5]. The convergent imaging beam requires a pellicle beam splitter in the
illumination beam path to avoid undesirable aberrations in the image. The pellicle is located
within the invar housing. The slit microscope is equipped with an additional fold mirror,
which directs the microscope image to a CCD camera. This feature enables a convenient
lateral alignment of the scale. The image detector is mounted on top of the microscope
housing. Up to now a photomultiplier and a photodiode have been used as sensors.

3. Measurement results
The measurement performance of the Nanometer Comparator has been verified by inter-
national comparison measurements. The first comparison with the Nanometer Comparator
involved was the so-called Nano 3 comparison on 280 mm line scales [6], where the compara-
tor shows a good agreement of the results compared to other national metrology institutes.
The main limitation of the microscope system at that time has been the dependence of the
measured position on the defocus. This effect could be reduced by a Köhler type illumination
and optimized alignment of the microscope. A more detailed description of the microscope
system can be found in [7]. The actual status of the performance is shown in Fig. 3. The

2-098
Nano 3 type 280 mm quartz scale
has been measured repeatedly over
four months. The differences from
the common mean are shown. Dur-
ing these measurements the micro-
scope was realigned, the detector
was changed from a photomultiplier
to a photodiode and the slit length
was reduced in the last two meas-
urements from 100 to 50 µm. The
variations remain all within ± 3 nm.
Using linear encoders as transfer
standards has the advantage, that the
sensor head is part of the measure-
ment system and it averages over a Fig. 3. Reproducibility of line scale measurements over four
large number of grating elements. months shown as deviations from the common mean.
Therefore comparison measurements
can be done with smaller uncertainties than using line scales. A Heidenhain LIP 382 encoder
has been used to verify the reproducibility of the Nanometer Comparator. The measurements
were carried out at six
consecutive workdays.
Each day the scale and
the reading head was
newly adjusted with
change of orientation.
Variations of measure-
ment data were within
± 2 nm, with only a few
data points out of a
range of ± 1 nm [8]. The
same type of encoder
was used for a compari-
son measurement of
three vacuum length
comparators, which are
operated at Mitutoyo,
Heidenhain and the PTB Fig. 4. Comparison measurement between three vacuum length compara-
[9]. The results of this tors using an LIP 382 linear encoder as transfer standard.
comparison are shown in Fig. 4.

4. Straightness measurement
To realise an additional y-axis for straightness measurements, a mirror along the maxi-
mum possible scale length is necessary, which is to be firmly coupled to the measurement ob-
ject. Therefore a new object carrier with attached x- and y-mirrors is needed for the extension
of the Nanometer Comparator to straightness measurement capabilities. The carrier will be
manufactured from Zerodur with the form of a tray as shown in Fig. 5 [10]. From this design
we also expect a higher stability of the measurement circle of the x-axis. The main concern is
the influence of the coupling of the vacuum bellow system to the carrier. With forces broadly
estimated based on experimental results a finite element analysis of the bending of the Zero-
dur carrier has been calculated. The measurement circle for the x-axis includes the section of

2-099
the front surface at about 60 mm height to
the ground plate of the carrier, for the y-axis
rotation and deformation of the side wall is
of main interest.
The interferometer of the y-axis will use
the heterodyne detection principle. The light
source will be also the Nd:YAG laser used
for the x-interferometer. The optical setup
will use spatially separated beams to reduce
interpolation nonlinearities and to allow the
use of polarisation maintaining fibres as al-
ready realized for the x-interferometer of the Fig. 5. FEM analysis of a Zerodur scale carrier.
comparator. Because this interferometer is
equipped with roof mirrors the design has to
be modified for plane mirrors. Some pre-
liminary results of a new heterodyne measurement electronics will be presented in another
contribution to this conference.
A sketch of the new
design of the Nanometer
Comparator is shown in
figure 6. In addition to
the y-axis interferometer
also two measurement
systems for the z-axis
will be added to both side
walls of the Zerodure tray
to optimize the focussing
of microscope measure-
ments. With these add-
ons we will be able to
measure the position of
the measurement slide in
all six degrees of freedom
in relation to the fixed
bridge with the structure
Fig. 6. New design of the Nanometer Comparator. detection unit. The online
control of the measure-
ment slide will also be extended to all six degrees of freedom.
For the measurement of straightness it is necessary to determine the flatness deviations of
the y-axis mirror. Because the bending of the carrier is dependent on the mounting and the
vacuum connection to the bellows, it seems to be necessary to measure the flatness of the mir-
ror in situ while it is mounted on the comparator.
In addition to the classical reversal technique, which depends on the reproducibility of the
scale mounting, we will implement the TMS method [11] developed originally for topography
measurements. The TMS method uses at least three parallel interferometers to measure the
distance to the mirror while scanning along the mirror. The y-axis interferometer therefore
consists of three parallel beam sets, each with an own heterodyne electronics. To determine
the quadratic term of the topography, which belongs to systematic interferometer offset errors,
the angle deviations of the interferometer relative to the mirror will be measured by the high
resolution angle interferometers in vacuum already in use at the Nanometer Comparator.

2-100
 The measurement result mij of the j-th distance sensor at the i-th position depends on its
lateral position s(j), the tilt b(i), the lateral measurement position x(i), its offset ai and the sys-
tematic error ej. This leads to the equation
mi , j   f ( x(i)  s( j ))  e j  ai  b(i)  s( j )
The whole measurement over all equidistant measurement points x(i) leads to a system of
linear equations whose parameters are estimated by a least-squares adjustment. The mathe-
matical model allows for different distance offsets at each measurement point and the TMS
method doesn't need any reference flat to calibrate the systematic sensor errors ej.
The shortest distance of the
multi sensor elements defines the
lateral resolution. Errors in the effec-
tive pixel distances s(j) increases the
measurement error linear to the to-
pography height, therefore they have
to be calibrated for traceable
straightness measure-ments on the
machine. Computer simulations for
PV realistic surfaces have shown, that
we should be able to reconstruct the
RMS
topography with errors well below
one nanometer. Due to the calibra-
tion procedure, the uncertainty for
Fig. 7. TMS simulation results. the distance of the beams side by
side s(2) is smaller than for the outer
beams s(3). Figure 7 shows the PV-
(Peak to Valley) and the rms-results of a simulation in dependence of the scaled uncertainty
of the sensor distance, where =1 corresponds to a deviation of 22,8 µm for s(2) and 33,9 µm
for s(3) .
The TMS method cannot determine linear deviations, therefore only straightness, not or-
thogonality, can be measured. The main advantage of the TMS method is the simultaneous
measurement of topography and straightness while for the reversal method the uncertainty
depends on the reproducibility after rotating the scale.

References
1. J. Flügge et al. euspen Int. Conf., Bremen, Germany. 1999, pp. 227-230.
2. J. Flügge et al. Proceedings of SPIE. 2001, vol. 4401, pp. 275-283.
3. J. Flügge et al. Proceedings of SPIE. 2009, vol. 7133, p. 952.
4. M. Tanaka et al. IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. 1989, IM 38, pp. 552-554.
5. R. Köning et al. Proceedings of SPIE. 2005, vol. 5879, pp. 5879-08.
6. H. Bosse et al. Proceedings of SPIE. 2003, vol. 5190, 122-133.
7. R. Köning et al. Proceedings of SPIE. 2007, vol. 6518, 3F-1 - 3F-8.
8. J. Flügge et al. euspen International Conf., Baden, Austria. 2006, pp. 289-292.
9. I. Tiemann et. al. Prec Eng. 2008, 32, pp. 1-6.
10. J. Flügge et al, euspen International Conf., Zürich, Switzerland, (2008), 18-22.
11. C. Elster et al. Prec. Eng. 2006, 30, pp. 32-38.

2-101

View publication stats