SPIE - Education Optical measurement of surface topography SC1271

Optical measurement plays an important role in non-contact strategies for 3D visualization and quantification of surface topography. The dominant techniques today involve imaging microscopy combined with confocal, focus-variation, quantitative phase imaging, digital holographic or interferometric principles to achieve sensitivity to height variations in the object surface. In this tutorial, we will review the fundamentals of these advanced techniques, including principles, implementation and best practice examples of applications and data interpretation. We will then move on to interference microscopy as an illustrative example of the current state of the art. Hot topics include performance enhancements, new objective designs for wide-field imaging, vibration robustness, accommodation of highly sloped surfaces, correlation to contact methods, metrology for additive manufacturing, and transparent surface films characterization. We will also consider the impact and importance of calibration, surface texture parameters, and standardization. Finally, a gallery of applications illustrates the current state of the art as well as the future potential for optical methods of surface structure analysis. Optical measurement plays an important role in non-contact strategies for 3D visualization and quantification of surface topography. The dominant techniques today involve imaging microscopy combined with confocal, focus-variation, quantitative phase imaging, digital holographic or interferometric principles to achieve sensitivity to height variations in the object surface. In this tutorial, we will review the fundamentals of these advanced techniques, including principles, implementation and best practice examples of applications and data interpretation. We will then move on to interference microscopy as an illustrative example of the current state of the art. Hot topics include performance enhancements, new objective designs for wide-field imaging, vibration robustness, accommodation of highly sloped surfaces, correlation to contact methods, metrology for additive manufacturing, and transparent surface films characterization. We will also consider the impact and importance of calibration, surface texture parameters, and standardization. Finally, a gallery of applications illustrates the current state of the art as well as the future potential for optical methods of surface structure analysis.