Capabilities and limitations of interference microscopy for two- and three-dimensional surface-measuring technology

Abstract A simple procedure for the determination of the lower bandwidth limit of interference microscopes is described. It is based on measurements of roughness standards with rectangular profiles of different period lengths. The measured interference microscope profiles are compared with profiles which were measured with a high resolution stylys instrument and then low pass filtered with different short cutoff wavelengths. Prerequisites are given for the determination of standardized roughness parameters with interference microscopes.