OTKA T 037711, 2002–2005

The assessment of the surface morphology and flatness of the wafers is a key issue in modern semiconductor technology. The need for a proper flatness characterisation method became even more important with the advent of today’s large-diameter wafers. The topic of the present project is Makyoh topography, an optical characterisation tool based on an ancient "magic" mirror of Far-Eastern origin. During our previous research, we have constructed a geometrical optical model of the imaging and clarified some details. The basics of numerical methods have been elaborated for the reconstruction of the surface topography. The aim of the present research is to further clarify the already revealed principles, and to develop practically applicable algorithms for the determination of surface topography, and to determine the characteristics and limitations (speed, errors, dynamic range) of these algorithms. Our further aim is to put these results into practise and to widen the application areas of the method; e.g. to study the deformation of membrane structures that are in use in modern sensor systems and the cross sections of human renal stones.