title: A preliminary study of spatial resolution enhancement of confocal and triangulation displacement meters using contact mode scanning probes.
abstract: This paper presents a method for the spatial resolution enhancement of confocal and triangulation meters using cantilever probes. Integration of a cantilever with existing commercially available meters is substantially eased by the absence of feedback control of the cantilever position. Confocal and triangulation meters are used for a number of applications in research and industrial settings including thickness measurements, topography measurements, step height measurements, flatness measurements, and profile measurements. These instruments provide a vertical (out-of-plane) resolution of a few nanometers. However, they are limited in their spatial resolution to the laser beam diameter, which is typically larger than 2 microm and often about 20 microm. Using a cantilever probe to make contact with the sample, the lateral resolution of standard commercial instruments can be improved to less than 1 microm.
authors.affiliation: PicoCal, Inc., 635 Hidden Valley Club Drive, Suite 214, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104, USA. angelo@picocal.com
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaitas
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D020527:Microscopy, Scanning Probe / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers