Profilometers

Both stylus and optical profilometers consist of a detector and a sample stage in order to measure a surface’s profile, as well as quantify the roughness of this surface. Within this system, a detector will determine the points on a sample that will provide measurement information, while the sample stage will hold the sample in an appropriate position for the analysis. A stylus profilometer will typically use a moving probe to measure the surface of a sample, whereas an optical profilometer will use light instead of a physical probe. While surface profilometers have similar measurement capabilities, some choices for their specific parameter settings include spacing, waviness, hybrid parameters, and flatness.