Self-calibrating lateral scanning white-light interferometer

摘要

Lateral Scanning White Light Interferometry represents an attractive alternative to the standard White Light Interferometry. Its main advantage over the later procedure consists in the ability to scan large samples continuously, without the need of a cumbersome stitching procedure. Presently, the main drawback in the path of a large scale industrial acceptance of this method is represented by the need for a careful calibration of the tilt angle prior to each measurement. In the present paper a novel self-calibration approach is presented. Using the data acquired during the normal scanning process, the need of an initial tilt angle calibration is eliminated and on-the-fly system adjustments for the best signal to noise ratio (SNR) can be performed without an increase in the measurement time dictated by recalibration.