Ghahremani Maryam, McClung Andrew, Mirzapourbeinekalaye Babak, Arbabi Amir
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.
Nat Commun. 2024 Oct 14;15(1):8864. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53219-z.
Measurement of the relative positions of two objects in three dimensions with sub-nanometer precision is essential to fundamental physics experiments and applications such as aligning multi-layer patterns of semiconductor chips. Existing methods, which rely on microscopic imaging and registration of distant patterns, lack the required accuracy and precision for the next generation of three-dimensional (3D) chips. Here we show that 3D misalignment between two distant objects can be measured using metasurface alignment marks, a laser, and a camera with sub-nanometer precision. Through simulations, we demonstrate that the shot noise-limited precisions of the lateral and axial misalignments between the marks are λ/50, 000 and λ/6, 300 (λ: laser's wavelength), respectively. With its high precision and simplicity, the technique enables the next generation of 3D-integrated optical and electronic chips and paves the way for developing cost-effective and compact sensors relying on sub-nanometer displacement measurements.
以亚纳米精度测量三维空间中两个物体的相对位置，对于基础物理实验以及诸如半导体芯片多层图案对准等应用而言至关重要。现有的方法依赖于微观成像和远处图案的配准，缺乏下一代三维（3D）芯片所需的精度。在此，我们展示了可以使用超表面对准标记、激光和相机以亚纳米精度测量两个远处物体之间的三维对准误差。通过模拟，我们证明了标记之间横向和轴向对准误差的散粒噪声限制精度分别为λ/50,000和λ/6,300（λ：激光波长）。该技术具有高精度和简单性，可为下一代3D集成光学和电子芯片提供支持，并为开发依赖亚纳米位移测量的经济高效且紧凑的传感器铺平道路。
