<title>High-resolution optical surface topography measurements</title>

Abstract

Optical methods are becoming interesting tools for high resolution surface topography measurements. Micro-and macrostructure measurements techniques were developed to measure surface topography with resolutions of one micrometer or better. The progress made in the last few years is due to the development of the laser and solid state detector elements together with very powerful computer support for the processing of information. Methods for optical surface topography measurements in particular based on the confocal principle and interferometry together with fu.ture trends and some limitations will be discussed.