A new method for the reconstruction of micro- and nanoscale planar periodic structures

In recent years, the micro- and nanoscale structures and materials are observed and characterized under microscopes with large magnification at the cost of small view field. In this paper, a new phase-shifting inverse geometry moiré method for the full-field reconstruction of micro- and nanoscale planar periodic structures is proposed. The random phase shift techniques are realized under the scanning types of microscopes. A simulation test and a practical verification experiment were performed, which demonstrate this method is feasible. As an application, the method was used to reconstruct the structure of a butterfly wing and a holographic grating. The results verify the reconstruction process is convenient. When being compared with the direct measurement method using point-by-point way, the method is very effective with a large view field. This method can be extended to reconstruct other planar periodic microstructures and to locate the defects in material possessing the regular lattice structure. Furthermore, it can be applied to evaluate the quality of micro- and nanoscale planar periodic structures under various high-power scanning microscopes. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.