The ability to measure step height and to calibrate step height artefacts is of vital interest in nanometrology. On that score the WGDM7 decided in 1998 to include measurements of step heights in a series of comparisons on the field of nanometrology.The comparison about step height (NANO2) started in September 2000 with the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) as pilot laboratory. Fourteen national metrology institutes worldwide participated in this comparison. A set of five step height standards in the range from 7 nm to 800 nm was used for the comparison. The lateral size of the structures of the step height standards was chosen so that the height could be measured by different types of instruments, for example, interference microscopes, stylus instruments and scanning probe microscopes (SPM). The reference values were calculated as the weighted mean of all measurements that fulfilled the En < 1 criteria.Most of the results were in good agreement with the reference values. It is noticeable that the results obtained by different types of instruments are quite compatible. Also this comparison is the first comprehensive test of the reliability of SPM and their suitability for traceable measurements of step heights. Further it was shown that today step heights on samples can be measured with uncertainties in the sub-nanometre range. Differences in the calculation of the uncertainty depend on the types of instruments and on the users. For each class of instrument, e.g. SPM, it would be meaningful to homogenise these models. Hence the results of this comparison are of great importance in many respects.Main text. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/.The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCL, according to the provisions of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA).

In future, measurements of extracellular vesicles in body fluids could become a standard diagnostic tool in medicine. For this purpose, reliable and traceable methods, which can be easily applied in hospitals, have to be established. Within the European Metrological Research Project (EMRP) 'Metrological characterization of micro-vesicles from body fluids as noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers' (www.metves.eu), various nanoparticle reference materials were developed and characterized. We present results of an international comparison among four national metrology institutes and a university hospital. The size distributions of five monodisperse and two bimodal spherical particle samples with diameters ranging from 50 nm to 315 nm made out of silica and polystyrene were compared. Furthermore, the stability of the samples was verified over a period of 18 months. While monodisperse reference particle samples above a certain size level lead to good agreements of the size measurements among the different methods, small and bimodal samples show the limitations of current 'clinical' methods. All samples proved to be stable within the uncertainty of the applied methods.

Abstract. Optical and tactile single scanning probes usually are used in dimensional metrology applications, especially for roughness, form, thickness and surface profile measurements. To perform assessments with nanometre level of accuracy, specific ultra-high precision machines have been developed by the National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) such as the LNE, VSL, METAS, SMD, generally in collaboration with industrials and academics partners. Such developments are not devoted only to NMIs but many industrials develop and commercialize their own ultra-high precision machines as the IBSPE and TNO companies. All these machines provide optical and tactile precise measurements and cover a large domain of application such as the form's characterization of optical lenses. In this paper the performance and capability of ultra-high precision machines of some National Metrology Institutes (LNE, VSL, SMD and METAS) and industrials companies (TNO and IBSPE), involving together in the IND10 European EMRP project titled "Optical and tactile metrology for absolute form characterization", will be detailed. Theirs probing systems and accuracies levels will be evoked. Relevant results especially for measuring optical lenses will be also presented and discussed.

A comparison of topography measurements of aspherical surfaces was carried out by European metrology institutes, other research institutes and a company as part of an European metrology research project. In this paper the results of this comparison are presented. Two artefacts were circulated, a small polymer coated aspherical lens with a clear aperture of about 12 mm, and a large conical convex lens with a clear aperture of 300 mm developed for the ESO Very Large Telescope. The participating laboratories were allowed to follow their own measurement strategies. Both tactile and optical measuring instruments were used, as well as single point and imaging techniques. The measured data were compared with respect to the root-mean-square (RMS), peak-to-valley and Zernike polynomial representations of the measured deviations from the nominal shape. The comparison shows for five out of eight measuring instruments/methods a very good agreement of the measured topographies within 14 nm (RMS).

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