Development of Highly Dense Material-Specific Fluorophore Labeling Method on Silicon-Based Semiconductor Materials for Three-Dimensional Multicolor Super-Resolution Fluorescence Imaging

The recent development of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (SRM) has drastically improved the resolution of light microscopy to the order of tens of nanometers. However, the application of SRM to semiconductor materials remains challenging because fluorophore labeling on inorganic materials with a high labeling density required for nanoimaging has been limited with conventional surface functionalization methods. Here, a novel approach for highly dense material-specific fluorophore labeling methods on silicon-based materials has been developed and demonstrated for SRM imaging of semiconductor line patterns. This approach is shown to selectively and sensitively probe different-sized silicon and silica line patterned arrays including edge structures on a wafer in three dimension, which has not been resolved by a conventional metrology system. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrate that this new method can detect nanoparticle defects with high sensitivity, suggesting its capability as an inspection tool for semiconductor defects. This new nanomaterial imaging approach is expected to drive further innovations in metrology tools and applications.