A high accuracy surface inspection system for testing polished surfaces is based on a Fabry-Perot resonator. The
inspected surface serves as a relay mirror in a cat-eye retroreflector incorporated into the resonating cavity, which makes
the optical configuration insensitive to surface tilts. The laser wavelength is swept periodically over a given range, and
the local surface height is obtained by timing the resonance occurrence during each sweep. An additional highly stable
reference Fabry-Perot interferometer using the same laser is employed for obtaining differential measurements, yielding
absolute height values, distinguishing between up and down defects. Due to the finesse of the multi-beam Fabry Perot
interferometer relative to the two-beam Michelson interferometer response function, the height sensitivity is greatly
enhanced. In order to detect small contamination particles, the interferometer was supplemented by a scattering detection
channel integrated into the same compact optical head. The combination of the bright-field interferometric signal,
yielding both the phase (surface height) and amplitude (surface reflectivity), and the dark-field scattering channel, allows
one to build a sensitive and reliable defect detection and classification procedure. The interferometer was incorporated
into high-speed high-accuracy in-line machines for inspection of the surfaces in data storage applications. With a 0.2
Angstroms resolution, the height rms repeatability at a surface scanning speed of 40 m/s is 1.5 Angstroms.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.