Scientists from CAS made breakthrough in measuring "abitrary displacement in 2D plane" with the precision of 0.3nm in a range of 200 micrometers. Enough for EUV mask overlay alignment?
Paper:
High-precision two-dimensional displacement metrology based on matrix metasurface
Abstract
A long-range, high-precision, and compact transverse displacement metrology is of crucial importance in both industries and scientific researches. However, it is a great challenge to measure arbitrary two-dimensional (2D) displacement with angstrom-level precision and hundred-micrometer range. Here, we demonstrated a prototype of high-precision 2D-displacement metrology with matrix metasurface. Light passing through the metasurface is diffracted into three beams in horizontal (H), vertical (V), and diagonal (D) linear polarization. 2D transverse displacement of the metasurface relative to the incident light beam is retrieved from the interferential optical powers arisen from coherent superposition between H-polarized and D-polarized beams or V-polarized and D-polarized beams. We experimentally demonstrate that arbitrary displacement in 2D plane can be determined with high precision down to 0.3 nm in a large range of 200 micrometers. Our work broadens the application scope of metasurface and paves the way for development of ultrasensitive optical 2D displacement metrology.
News story:
我学者用超表面实现平面内纳米位移光学感测
17日,记者从中国科学技术大学获悉,该校光电子科学与技术安徽省重点实验室微纳光学与技术课题组教授王沛和副教授鲁拥华设计了一种光学超表面,并用该表面将二维平面的位移信息映射为双通道偏光干涉的光强变化,实现了平面内任意移动轨迹的大量程、高精度非接触感测。相关研究成果日前在线发表于《科学进展》。
纳米级长度和位移测量,是光学精密测量领域的重要基础研究课题,在半导体叠对误差测量、精密对准与跟踪等方面具有关键作用。传统的光学干涉仪虽然可以实现纳米及亚纳米的测量精度,但系统复杂、易受环境干扰。近年来,王沛、鲁拥华课题组基于微纳结构光场调控技术发展出一些位移感测技术,实现了亚纳米测量精度。但是这些一维位移测量技术在跟踪面内移动的应用中需要克服装配误差,限制了测量的稳定性和可靠性。
为此,该课题组进一步提出了一种基于超表面光场调控的二维位移精密测量新技术。研究人员设计了一种超表面,不仅可以实现二维的光学衍射,且能够同时定制每个衍射级次光场的偏振态,从而利用不同衍射级次组合的双通道偏光干涉,同时记录二维平面内的任意位移。通过相位解算算法,研究人员能从双通道偏光干涉光强中获得高精度、大量程的二维位移信息。实验证明,该位移测量技术的精度可以达到0.3纳米,测量量程达到200微米以上。
研究人员介绍,该技术能够同时测得二维位移信息,可有效被用于跟踪二维平面内的任意复杂运动。最新研究拓展了光学超表面的应用领域,提升了精密位移光学传感技术的可靠性和集成度,展示了超表面光场调控能力对传统光学技术的赋能作用。