Precision, accuracy, uncertainty and traceability and their application to submicrometer dimensional metrology

Abstract The terms in the title of this paper are often used to characterize the quality of any measurement result. However, these terms (particularly accuracy and traceability) are very often confused (and abused) in practice. They often do not have the same meaning to the seller, buyer, and user of metrology instruments. Each of these terms has a very specific meaning and definition and each should be fully understood and quantified properly before being used to convey metrological information for any purpose. This paper summarizes the generally-accepted generic metrological meaning and significance of these terms for the purpose of clarifying any misunderstanding that might otherwise arise between the metrologist and the user of metrological data. These meanings are illustrated by discussing their application to dimensional standards presently available to the semiconductor industry from NIST.