Tactile and optical microsensors: test procedures and standards

This paper presents procedures and standards for the testing of tactile and optical microsensors and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) systems for coordinate metrology. The tests are analogue to the well-established tests for classical coordinate measuring machines (CMM) and assess local and global sensor characteristics. For this purpose, adequate and miniaturized reference standards were manufactured, calibrated and tested. In addition, task-specific reference standards have been realized to determine special sensor characteristics, such as the maximum slope angle measurable by optical sensors or specific errors of tactile–optical microprobes measuring deep micro-holes.