Spectrally-resolved white-light interferometry as a profilometry tool

Phase-shifting interferometry and white-light interferometry are reliable techniques for surface analysis in which the optical path difference has to be changed by some transducer to evaluate the phase. We present here a different procedure in which optical path modulation is completely avoided. This technique is based on the spectral analysis of white-light interferograms. By means of a spectroscopic device, a non-visible interferogram is split into its monochromatic components and absolute, unambiguous values of the phase are obtained along the spectral axis. Only one interferogram is required to obtain the profile of one-dimensional surfaces with nanometric resolution. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.