Direct structural characterisation of line gratings with grazing incidence small-angle x-ray scattering.

Grazing incidence small-angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS) and x-ray reflectometry (XRR) have been used to investigate structural parameters, especially period length, line width, groove width, and line height, of grating test structures in the sub-micron range. The gratings are e-beam written structures on a quartz substrate with a fixed period length, but different line and groove widths, covered by a layer of ruthenium. A Ru layer thickness of 9.4 nm has been determined with XRR. GISAXS was performed in two orientations, with an incident beam alignment perpendicular and parallel to the grating lines. The scattering patterns in parallel orientation have been analysed without numerical simulation by Fourier transformation. The obtained results for line and groove width are in good agreement with nominal values. The analysis method has been validated by analysing simulated scattering data. A superposition of scattering intensities measured for different azimuthal rotation angles close to parallel alignment was used to determine the line height of a grating of 27.3 nm, which is also close to the nominal value. The Fourier analysis procedure opens up the possibility of traceable structure determination with GISAXS in the nanometre range.