A Differential Measurement System for Surface Topography Based on a Modular Design

In this paper, a novel design of a surface topography measurement system is proposed, to address the challenge of accurate measurement in a relatively large area. This system was able to achieve nanometer-scale accuracy in a measurement range of 100 mm × 100 mm. The high accuracy in a relatively large area was achieved by implementing two concepts: (1) A static coordinate system was configured to minimize the Abbe errors. (2) A differential measurement configuration was developed by setting up a confocal sensor and a film interferometry module to separate the motion error. In order to accommodate the differential measurement probes from both sides of the central stage and ensure the system rigidity with balanced supports, separate linear guides were introduced in this system. Therefore, the motion Degree of Freedom (DoF) was analyzed in order to address the challenge of an over-constrained mechanism due to multiple kinematic pairs. An optimal configuration and a quick assembly process were proposed accordingly. The experimental results presented in this paper showed that the proposed modular measurement system was able to achieve 10 nm accuracy in measuring the surface roughness and 100 nm accuracy in measuring the step height in the range of 100 mm × 100 mm. In summary, the novel concept of this study is the build of a high-accuracy system with conventional mechanical components.