Addressing the Environmental Challenges of Nanometrology Laboratories

Nanometrology deals with measurements and analysis of dimensions of approximately 1 to 100 nanometres as well as measurement of force, electrical, magnetic and optical properties and to correlate the measured size with properties. Some aspects of this work require extremely stable environments. Very stringent limits are often required on environmental vibration and noise, temperature, EMC, Illumination and Clean Room requirements. The environmental requirements of Nanometrology from the perspective of designing of an advanced Nanometrology laboratory are studied and reviewed in this paper. A desirable environment at a site may be adversely affected by ground vibration from a variety of sources such as road traffic, metro train movements, utility plants and the construction. The environment inside the lab is also affected by temperature fluctuation, humidity, acoustics disturbances, air velocity, EMC, Illumination and cleanliness. All these factors affect the nano level measurements. This paper addresses various environmental conditions, its potential effect on nano level measurements and environmental conditions to be maintained for a nano metrology laboratory.