“Advanced 3D chemical metrology for innovative technologies”, 3DMetChemIT, is a research project under the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research.

Consumer demand for faster, smarter and cheaper products drives innovation in high value-added technologies. To satisfy these demands industry is increasingly using 3D micro and nanoscale architectures, additive manufacturing and new material combinations from a rapidly expanding library of materials. This increases the need for capabilities to measure the chemical composition of complex materials and devices with 3D-spatial resolution.

The 3DMetChemIT project addresses major challenges in the analysis of buried interfaces and heterogeneous organic-inorganic materials to develop beyond state-of-the-art capabilities, trusted methods and reference materials for 3D-resolved chemical analysis using secondary ion mass spectrometry, atom probe tomography and grazing-incidence x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy.

The objectives of the project are

  • To develop advanced metrology capability for chemical 3D imaging of organic and heterogeneous devices with high spatial and high “chemical resolution”.
  • To develop metrology and standardisation for atomic resolution 3D elemental imaging of inorganics.
  • To develop 3D chemical imaging of irregular devices and complex organic-inorganic interfaces.
  • To advance metrology capability for accurate chemical identification of defects and buried interfaces.
  • To develop calibration standards, 3D nano-structured reference materials and traceable quanti­fication methods for 3D structured devices.
  • To ensure uptake of the metrology and measurement infrastructure by industry to enhanc the competitiveness of EU industry.