Coherence Scanning Interferometry Research Articles

Precursor-film-driven ultra-early depinning of the three-phase contact line

Hypothesis: Despite its importance in colloid and interface science, contact line pinning remains poorly understood, especially in the presence of a precursor film. We hypothesized that this is due to a lack of an experimental method capable of directly observing their physics at the nanoscale. MethodsUsing coherence scanning interferometry, we visualized the three-dimensional behavior of contact lines with a precursor film near a nanogroove structure composed of flat terrace surfaces and steps with an inclination angle of 30° while achieving nanoscale vertical resolution. FindingsWe found that even when the contact line is pinned at the edge of the step, the precursor film is not and advances beyond the edge. Furthermore, we discovered that the precursor film has two distinct effects on contact line motion. Specifically, the precursor film facilitates depinning when the contact line descends the step — a contact angle change was 0.9°, only 3.0% of the value predicted by a classical theory of contact angle at a solid edge. This ultra-early depinning is attributed to the formation of a new liquid film past the edge, driven by the progression of the precursor film that overcomes the pinning effect. In contrast, when the contact line ascends the step, the precursor film acts as a resistance to movement due to steric interaction.

Neural Network Approach for Modelling and Compensation of Local Surface-Tilting-Dependent Topography Measurement Errors in Coherence Scanning Interferometry

The topography measurement accuracy of coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) suffers from the local characteristic of micro-structured surfaces, such as local surface slopes. A cylindrical reference artefact made of single-mode fiber with high roundness and low roughness has been proposed in this manuscript to traceably investigate the surface tilting induced measurement deviations using coherence scanning interferometry with high NA objectives. A feed-forward neural network (FF-NN) is designed and trained to model and thereafter compensate the systematic measurement deviations due to local surface tilting. Experimental results have verified that the FF-NN approach can well enhance the accuracy of the CSI for radius measurement of cylindrical samples up to 0.3%. Further development of the FF-NN for modelling of the measurement errors in CSI due to the optical properties of surfaces including areal roughness is outlined.

A novel use of non-contact methods in analyzing the physical and technical surface characteristics of different materials using electromagnetic measurement techniques

Researchers and industry professionals often use surface metrology techniques to analyze and quantify these surface characteristics, enabling them to make informed decisions about machining strategies and process improvements. This paper presents a comprehensive exploration of surface characteristics of two different materials i.e., C45 steel and brass using electromagnetic measurement techniques. The research used techniques based on: Coherence Scanning Interferometry, Confocal, Focus Variation and Confocal Fusion. Additionally, different light colours were used for these techniques and measurement methods to assess their impact on the quality of mapping the electromagnetic surface. The results demonstrate that the regardless of the colour of the scanned surface (steel or brass), only approximately 50 % of the profile points achieved a 40 % match with the base profile points by scanning with blue light.

Frequency selective illumination for high aperture coherence scanning interferometry

Abstract Coherence scanning interferometry is a widely used optical topography measurement technique, which can achieve axial resolutions in the sub-nanometer regime. Nevertheless, in the lateral dimension it is inherently diffraction limited and multiple problems arise when approaching this limit. Especially for challenging surface topographies like steep slopes or small grating periods measurement artifacts start to cause massive deviations in the 3D reconstruction of the surface due to the increased influence of noise on increasingly weak signals. In this study we present an illumination approach for Linnik-type CSI, which highlights oblique incident angles of the illuminating light cone in high numerical aperture (0.95) systems. It is demonstrated, that this approach can significantly improve the signal-to-noise ratio for measurements at steep surface slopes and therefore increase the subsequent surface reconstruction.

Statistical Characterization of Emitter Fabrication over Electrospray Array Thruster

A method for characterizing the variance in fabrication of emitters and extractors in a porous conical electrospray array thruster is presented. Coherence scanning interferometry is used to produce topographic maps of 543 of 576 sites within the array. The emitter and extractor geometries, features of size a few hundred micrometers, are modeled as a spherically capped cone recessed from a circular aperture. Regressing this model against the topographic maps yields a set of salient parameters that describe the geometry of a site, including the tip radius and height of the emitter and its offset from the extractor aperture. Statistics over the emitter geometries are computed, which represent manufacturing tolerances. It is found that key parameters like the emitter tip radius are highly variable (mean 25.8 μm and standard deviation 20.9 μm), highlighting the stochastic nature of the manufacturing process. Correlations between the tip radius and emitter height indicate that this variability arises from blunting of the emitters during fabrication, and the observation that emitters are shorter than nominal is explained by an increase in effective cutting diameter of the tools. Further analysis indicates that determining the mean emitter tip radius of the entire population within 5% error requires over 300 individual emitter measurements. These results indicate that accurately quantifying emitter variability at scale requires rigorous and extensive analysis, and the implications of this emitter variability for device performance and design are discussed.

Identification of mode I fracture toughness in GFRP/Al and GFRP/Cu joints for structural batteries

Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) have been proposed as components of structural batteries, yet their elastic mismatch can lead to interface cracks, compromising structural integrity and both mechanical and electrochemical efficiency. To this end, the bonding between the metal and the composite layer is of utmost importance. In this study, the effect of various metal surface treatments on the mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of two FML configurations suitable for structural batteries — Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP)/aluminum laminate and GFRP/copper laminate — was examined. The surface treatments included sulfo-ferric etching, NaOH/HNO3 etching, and Sol–Gel anodizing for aluminum 2024-T3, as well as FeCl3/HCl/Glycerol treatment and Sol–Gel anodizing for copper alloy. The results were compared with untreated conditions and with the baseline GFRP/GFRP configuration. GFRP/metal coupons were designed to achieve pure mode I interlaminar fracture toughness in double cantilever beam (DCB) tests, and the designs were verified using the Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT). The surface characterization of the metals was performed using contact angle tests to estimate the surface free energy, while Coherence Scanning Interferometry (CSI) was used to measure the surface roughness and topography.

Strain Determination Using a Global Interpolation Concept Based on Coherence Scanning Interferometry Measurements

BackgroundThe experimental detection of small and large strains requires special approaches of full-field measurement techniques and their evaluation on 3D curved surfaces of components.ObjectivesSince classical digital image correlation methods have difficulties with the application of paints in some applications, one aim is to use a method in which the surface roughness is used to apply the strain calculation.MethodsIn this paper, 2D digital image correlation is applied to 2D intensity maps extracted from a coherence scanning interferometer together with height information. Height information are used to reconstruct the 3D motion of tracked material points. Surface interpolation and strain calculation are performed using globally formulated radial basis functions.ResultsThe entire procedure leads to an appropriate technique for determining the in-plane strains in curved surfaces of parts, whereas the expected accuracy for various levels of the radial basis functions are discussed in detail.ConclusionsParticularly, coherence scanning interferometry yields highly accurate height information. To smooth the surface motion, it turns out that in particular a regression analysis is required, where we apply radial basis functions with various approximation levels. This is an alternative procedure for surface strain determination.

Topography reconstruction of high aspect ratio silicon trench array via near-infrared coherence scanning interferometry.

Topography measurement of high aspect ratio trench array using coherence scanning interferometry presents significant challenges because the numerical aperture of detection light is constrained by the trenches. Altering the detection light to penetrate the sample like near-infrared light for silicon could overcome this obstacle, but the trench array spreads the detection light. This study introduces a coherence scanning interferometry model based on three-dimensional point spread function and assuming sample is transparent to detection light, which is realized by integrating rigorous numerical electromagnetic field solution to quantify the modulation aberrations of detection light by transparent trench arrays, and theoretical angular spectrum diffraction utilized for far-field interference imaging. This model facilitates a thorough analysis of the aberrations introduced by trench arrays, encompassing comparisons between trench arrays and a single trench, as well as between the symmetric region of the array and the asymmetric region at the edge. Additionally, an investigation into the impact of unified compensation for low-order aberrations on the topography reconstruction is presented, and we find the sample-induced aberration compensation method utilizing a deformable mirror that we previously proposed for a single trench is still effective confronting trench array. Experimental measurements are performed on silicon trench arrays with the aspect ratio of up to 20:1 and the period of approximately 10 µm to validate the effectiveness of our model and measurement methods, thus providing valuable insights for enhancing high aspect ratio manufacturing.

A novel methodology to assess optical profilometer stability to discriminate surface roughness

A new method is proposed to investigate the measurement variation of instruments and their ability to discriminate two TA6V surfaces obtained by grinding with SiC grit papers (80 and 120). Three optical measurement technologies included into a single apparatus, namely Confocal Microscopy (CM), Focus Variation (FV) and Coherence Scanning Interferometry (CSI), were used to measure both ground surfaces according to a specific experimental protocol (MorphoMeca Monitoring) based on measurement iterations and repetitions. From the measurements, four indices were built from the Sa roughness parameter to assess the Quality (ratio of the topographical variability over the measurement noise), the Drift (related to surface fluctuations) and the Stability (estimation of the temporal drift using a second order autoregressive model) of the three measurement technologies (modes), as well as their Relevance (computed from an analysis of variance) to discriminate ground surfaces with close roughness. For these investigated surfaces, it was especially highlighted that the Quality Index is four times higher for the CSI mode than for the FV and CM modes. All the used measurement modes experienced small drifting (Drift Index) during the measurements. The CSI mode was slightly more sensitive to drift than the FV and CM modes. The Stability Index indicated that there was no memory effect between two acquisitions for each measurement mode, i.e., the temporal drift did not depend on the measurement mode. Moreover, the three measurement modes are able to discriminate the two ground surfaces with the same accuracy through the Sa parameter. However, the Sa values may vary depending on the measurement modes, and it was finally shown that the Sa parameter is minimized by 0.03 μm for the FV mode compared with the CSI mode, due to its smoothing effect.

Extracting focus variation data from coherence scanning interferometric measurements

Coherence scanning interferometry (CSI), based on the principle of interference, can achieve sub-nanometer precision for height measurements. On the other hand, focus variation microscopy (FVM), combining the small depth of field of the objective, is a widely used surface topography measurement method suited to surface topography that is mostly optically rough. In this paper, we propose a method to simultaneously obtain the interferometric fringe data and focus variation FVM image stack, from a single vertical scanning process, using a CSI instrument without any hardware modifications. Using a 3D Fourier transform, the FVM signal, looks takes the form of a “bowtie” and the CSI signal resembles two “umbrellas” that are separated in 3D K-space. The signal is recovered using a 3D inverse Fourier transform and the surface topography can be determined by fusing the CSI and FVM signals. Since both signals come from the same instrument and scanning process, there is no need for coordinate registration and data interpolation during the data fusion process. Our method combines the features of CSI and FVM measurement, thereby improving the robustness and data coverage of the measurement. An all-in-focus surface topography map can also be generated using this method. This focusing feature has the potential to significantly improve the defect detection and quality control ability of CSI instruments.

Comparison of Fourier optics-based methods for modeling coherence scanning interferometry

Comparison of Fourier optics-based methods for modeling coherence scanning interferometry

Quantitative Evaluation of the Batwing Effect on Depth Measurement in Coherence Scanning Interferometry for Rectangular Gratings

Coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) is a widely used non-contact method for measuring areal surface topography. The calculation of groove depth typically employs the ‘W/3 rule’ specified in ISO 5436-1. However, the batwing effect causes overshoots near the groove edges, which can introduce noise singularities in the selected W/3 region for depth calculation, thereby affecting the measurement of rectangular grating depth. This paper introduces the definition of batwing height and width and proposes a simulation model that considers various factors, such as the center wavelength, spectrum of the illuminating light, shadow effect, and numerical aperture, to analyze their influence on depth measurement. The simulation results demonstrate that the batwing width is the primary factor influencing depth measurement for small grating periods. Specifically, a decrease in numerical aperture increases the batwing width, leading to larger depth measurement errors, while a decrease in the center wavelength reduces the batwing width, resulting in smaller depth measurement errors. The influence of the illumination spectrum and shadow effect on depth measurement is found to be minor. Experimental validation using a step standard consisting of rectangular gratings with different periods and depths confirms the agreement between the experimental and simulated results. The proposed method provides a quantitative evaluation of depth measurement accuracy in CSI.

Classification of Visual Smoothness Standards Using Multi-Scale Areal Texture Parameters and Low-Magnification Coherence Scanning Interferometry.

The ability to objectively specify surface finish to ensure consistent visual appearance addresses a vital need in surface coating engineering. This work demonstrates how a computational framework, called surface quality and inspection descriptors (SQuID™), can be leveraged to effectively rank different grades of surface finish appearances. ISO 25178-2 areal surface metrics extracted from bandpass-filtered measurements of a set of ten visual smoothness standards taken on a coherent scanning interferometer are used to quantify different grades of powder-coated surface finish. The ability to automatically classify the standard tiles using multi-scale areal texture parameters is compared to parameters obtained from a hand-held gloss meter. The results indicate that the ten different surface finishes can be automatically classified with accuracies as low as 65% and as high as 99%, depending on the filtering and parameters used to quantify the surfaces. The highest classification accuracy is achieved using only five multi-scale topography descriptions of the surface.

Statistical Analysis of Measurement Processes Using Multi-Physic Instruments: Insights from Stitched Maps

Stitching methods allow one to measure a wider surface without the loss of resolution. The observation of small details with a better topographical representation is thus possible. However, it is not excluded that stitching methods generate some errors or aberrations on topography reconstruction. A device including confocal microscopy (CM), focus variation (FV), and coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) instrument modes was used to chronologically follow the drifts and the repositioning errors on stitching topographies. According to a complex measurement plan, a wide measurement campaign was performed on TA6V specimens that were ground with two neighboring SiC FEPA grit papers (P#80 and P#120). Thanks to four indicators (quality, drift, stability, and relevance indexes), no measurement drift in the system was found, indicating controlled stitching and repositioning processes for interferometry, confocal microscopy, and focus variation. Measurements show commendable stability, with interferometric microscopy being the most robust, followed by confocal microscopy, and then focus variation. Despite variations, robustness remains constant for each grinding grit, minimizing interpretation biases. A bootstrap analysis reveals time-dependent robustness for confocal microscopy, which is potentially linked to human presence. Despite Sa value discrepancies, all three metrologies consistently discriminate between grinding grits, highlighting the reliability of the proposed methodology.

Chromatic confocal coherence scanning interferometry with speed-variable scanning method to measure large-depth step

Coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) is a crucial measurement technique for achieving non-contact, rapid, and high-precision measurements. However, when applied to large-depth steps, CSI encounters challenges related to prolonged measurement times and suboptimal signal utilization. This paper introduces a hybrid CSI system that integrates the chromatic confocal technique (CC-CSI). The confocal spectral signal peak facilitates the rapid determination of the coherence area, allowing the scanning process to be divided into two phases. The signal collection is limited within the coherence area at a lower scanning speed, while in other positions, the scanning speed is increased. This speed-variable scanning technique significantly augments measurement efficiency. The CC-CSI system with the speed-variable scanning method demonstrated a significant enhancement in measurement time compared to conventional CSI under identical experimental conditions. The measured step heights were 100 μm, 200 μm, and 300 μm. Standard deviations of less than 0.3 μm were observed in 10 consecutive measurements. In addition, the proposed CC-CSI system demonstrated the capability to profile the groove structure.

Two-step retrace error calibration removing tilt ambiguity in coherence scanning interferometry.

In interferometry measurement, the retrace error often limits its high-precision metrology applications. Retrace error calibration with tilted flats can give a relation between the retrace error and the introduced tilt angles, but there is still an ambiguity between the introduced tilt angles and the tilt terms in the created retrace error. We propose a novel, to the best of our knowledge, two-step calibration method to resolve this tilt ambiguity. It involves additional measurements of spherical mirror(s) with known curvature(s). The experiment shows that the curvature deviation due to the tilt ambiguity can be significantly reduced after applying the proposed method.

Mechanics and surface characterization of high-speed diamond turning of germanium

Germanium and other brittle single crystal materials can be diamond turned with negative rake angle tools, but to maintain surface integrity parameters are typically chosen conservatively. This work describes experiments performed on (100)Ge crystal samples that support a recent scientific finding: increasing the surface speed in diamond turning of germanium improves surface integrity. Materials are machined on a modern ultraprecision diamond turning machine at constant surface speed and constant feed per revolution keeping both the geometric character and the material flow dynamics constant during machining. Forces are measured in the experiments at cutting speeds ranging from 0.2 m/s to 10 m/s. Surface roughness of the machined surfaces was characterized using coherence scanning interferometry and surface analysis. The key findings of the work are (a) force and specific forces decrease by approximately a factor of 2 over the cutting speed range and (b) surface damage substantively decreases with cutting speed. This is correlated to the behavior of the cutting forces during machining and the chip geometry. The findings indicate that higher material removal rates can be obtained in diamond turning of germanium and that this increase in material remove rates also improves surface integrity.

In-situ surface roughness evaluation of laser powder bed fusion surfaces using optical tomography

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is an additive manufacturing technique that enables significant design freedom and high-complexity part production. However, the process requires unconventional analysis methods for surface characterization due to process-induced variations. One possible technique is to use in-situ optical tomography (OT) technique for quality control of LPBF surfaces during fabrication. In-situ characterization approach would enable better first time yield and inspection possibility of inner channels without the need of destructive testing. In this study, samples with varied angles and process parameters are produced by LPBF. Camera images are collected during the production per every process layer using the optical-tomography system. These OT images are interpreted to obtain roughness estimates of sample overhanging surfaces. OT roughness outputs are analyzed and correlated with optical coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) measurements. The relationship between OT surface roughness estimates and optical measurements for different process parameters are presented. The possibility of using an in-situ surface analysis method for the characterization of LPBF surfaces is discussed.

Multi-scale conditional diffusion model for deposited droplet volume measurement in inkjet printing manufacturing

The volume consistency of deposited droplets is regarded as a core quality evaluation to achieve zero-defect manufacturing (ZDM) in inkjet printed organic light-emitting diode (OLED). In order to improve the product quality, the causal links between printing defects and its causes should be determined. However, the collection of the defects quantified data remains a challenge due to the micrometer scale and few texture features of droplets. In this paper, an accurate measurement method for deposited droplets based on coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) is proposed. Firstly, time series signals for topography reconstruction are recorded when CSI scans droplets vertically at a constant speed. Then, a deep learning method, multi-scale conditional diffusion model (MS-CDM), is proposed to restore the time series signals’ distortions led by the chromatic dispersion. Furthermore, a self-supervised learning method is proposed to efficiently train the MS-CDM, since the labeled data is hard to be acquired in industrial environment. Finally, the printing experiment indicates the collaboration of different modules in intelligent close-loop to reduce Mura defects. The volume measurement experiments demonstrate the ability to accurately measure the volume of deposited droplets, and the measurement error reaches 1.3%. The performance experiment on several public datasets demonstrates the method’s promising feature representation ability for time series mainstream task, and the MS-CDM achieves the best performance compared to those baselines methods.

Simulation-driven machine learning approach for high-speed correction of slope-dependent error in coherence scanning interferometry.

Slope-dependent error often occurs in the coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) measurement of functional engineering surfaces with complex geometries. Previous studies have shown that these errors can be corrected through the characterization and phase inversion of the instrument's three-dimensional (3D) surface transfer function. However, since CSI instrument is usually not completely shift-invariant, the 3D surface transfer function characterization and correction must be repeated for different regions of the full field of view, resulting in a long computational process and a reduction of measurement efficiency. In this work, we introduce a machine learning approach based on a deep neural network that is trainable for slope-dependent error correction in CSI. Our method leverages a deep neural network to directly learn errors characteristics from simulated surface measurements provided by a previously validated physics-based virtual CSI method. The experimental results demonstrate that the trained network is capable of correcting the surface height map with 1024 × 1024 sampling points within 0.1 seconds, covering a 178 µm field of view. The accuracy is comparable to the previous phase inversion approach while the new method is two orders of magnitude faster under the same computational condition.