A stylus instrument for roughness and profile measurement of ultra-fine surfaces

Abstract

This paper describes a production instrument which will measure very fine surface texture. It is a stylus profiling instrument, namely Nanostep, based on the NPL Nanosurf 2, which provides thermal stability in its “Zerodur” construction and a dynamic range of 50 nm to 50mm in its slideway/carriage/drive design. Nanostep performance is discussed in respect of noise, straightness, profile and start position repeatability, the measurement of different grades of silicon slice and a very small step.