Standards of length at the nanoscale based on movement gages and their measurement with sub- nanometric uncertainty

摘要

The manufacture of nano-electronic devices, nano manipulators, and microelectromechanical sensors, as well as elaborations of nano-technological processes with atomic spatial resolution have made it necessary to calibrate measuring devices at the nanoscale with sub-nanometric uncertainty [1]. The standards of length offered differ from traditional static standards in the calibrated movement of the datum surface. Essentially new types of standards are used based on movement gages. Materials with a reverse piezoelectric effect which differ from piezoelectric ceramics in their multifold smaller hysteresis, creep, and nonlinearity are used in the new standards for horizontal or vertical movement. The amount of movement of the gage surface is directly proportional to the amount of applied voltage. The range of movement of these gages amounts to more than 100 nanometers vertically and more than 200 nanometers horizontally.