Scanning Electron Microscope-based Metrological Electron Microscope System and New Prototype Scanning Electron Microscope Magnification Standard

A metrological electron microscope has been developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceable to national standards of length, and a new prototype magnification standard meeting the current needs of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) user community has been fabricated. This metrology instrument is designed to certify standards for the calibration of the magnification of the SEM and for the certification of artifacts for linewidth measurement done in the SEM. The artifacts will be useful for various applications in which the SEM is currently being used. The SEM-based metrology system is now operational at the Institute, and its design criteria and the progress on the characterization of the instrument are presented. The design and criteria for the new lithographically produced SEM low accelerating voltage magnification standard to be calibrated on this system are also discussed

Advances in Modeling of Scanning Charged-Particle-Microscopy Images

Modeling artificial scanning electron microscope (SEM) and scanning ion microscope images has recently become important. This is because of the need to provide repeatable images with a priori determined parameters. Modeled artificial images are highly useful in the evaluation of new imaging and metrological techniques, like image-sharpness calculation, or drift-corrected image composition (DCIC). Originally, the NIST-developed artificial image generator was designed only to produce the SEM images of gold-on-carbon resolution sample for image-sharpness evaluation. Since then, the new improved version of the software was written in C++ programming language and is in the Public Domain. The current version of the software can generate arbitrary samples, any drift function, and many other features. This work describes scanning in charged-particle microscopes, which is applied both in the artificial image generator and the DCIC technique. As an example, the performance of the DCIC technique is demonstrated.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Inspection of Single-Point Diamond Turning Tools at Low Accelerating Voltage in a Scanning Electron Microscope

Single crystal diamond tools used in the machining process have been inspected in both the optical microscope and scanning electron microscope. Attention was focused on surface characteristics related to the specific polishing process and its relationship to cutting-edge structure. The need for tool inspection is discussed as well as the drawbacks with the inspection techniques presently used. Low accelerating voltage ( \u3c 2.5 keV) inspection of uncoated diamond tools for machining is shown to be a viable method for the determination of polishing flaws that grossly reflect in the surface quality of the finished part

Production and Applications of Cellulose Nanomaterials

This publication features more than 100 short technical summaries on preparation, characterization and applications of cellulose nanomaterialso Represents completed and ongoing work from 45 institutions in 10 countrieso Preparation and characterization of cellulose nanocrystals and cellulose nanofibrilso Applications covered include: coating, films, medical, composites, liquid gels, aereogels and morehttps://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/fac_monographs/1326/thumbnail.jp

Contactless Resonant Cavity Dielectric Spectroscopic Studies of Recycled Office Papers

Current product composition and quality test methods for the paper and pulp industries are rooted in wet-bench chemistry techniques which cannot be used to distinguish between virgin and secondary fibers. We have recently demonstrated the application of an in situ and nondestructive assessment method based on dielectric spectroscopy (DS), which can address this deficiency in the testing of paper. The DS technique, which employs a resonant microwave cavity, could be applicable to quality assurance techniques such as gauge capability studies and real-time statistical process control (SPC), and may have inherent forensic capabilities. In this paper, we show how this DS technique can be used to distinguish between office copier paper products which may contain recycled fibers. We show a reasonable correlation between the dielectric characteristics (e.g., dielectric loss) and the atomistic level chemical changes that result from the paper recycling process