White light interferometry was applied to determine the bending of micromechanical cantilever sensors (MCS) with an error typically less than 1permille. Deflections smaller than 2nm could be resolved at a lateral resolution of 2μm. Absolute values for curvatures can be determined and suitable reference points can be chosen on the MCS support. This was demonstrated in experiments using plasma polymerized polyallylamine films, which cross link upon ultraviolet light irradiation. The results suggest that 100μm long segments are sufficient to estimate reliable curvature radii of 450μm long microcantilever sensors.

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