PHENOMENOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS MEASURED BY THE METHOD OF ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY

The phenomenological surface characteristics (the maximum peak-to-peak value, surface roughness, skewness and kurtosis, scaling correlation function, power spectral density and energy spectrum, and coherence fu nction) determined by the method of atomic-force microscopy are consid ered in terms of microgeometry and classical statistics. The algorithm is described for computing surface roughness and providing eliminatio n of the measurement errors associated with probe setting and an incre ase of the scanned region. The numerical results characterizing the sc aling properties of roughness and other surface characteristics are al so considered. The problems encountered in the statistical analysis of the hierarchic structure of the surface roughness in the system ''a p oint-a scanner zone-a wafer'' are formulated.