Xiujian CHOU^*, Kangkang NIU, Yi LIU, Chenyang XUE, Jun LIU, and Wendong ZHANG

Key Laboratory of Instrumentation Science and Dynamic Measurement, North University of China, Ministry of Education National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Electronic Test and Measurement, Xueyuan Road 3, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province 030051, China

(Received May 18, 2011; Accepted November 29, 2011)

White-light scanning interferometry is extended from the visible-light region to the infrared-light region to measure the three-dimensional (3D) topography of components. An infrared-light interference system based on a linnik-type interferometric microscope is developed according to the principle of transmission of semiconductor materials in the infrared-light region. The 3D topography is measured using the components covered with a Si or GaAs wafer based on a phase-stepping algorithm. The 3D topography can be obtained accurately and relative step heights can be determined within an error less than 3% compared with the instrument MSA 400, a well-known commercially available apparatus used in the field of 3D topography measurement.

Key words: white-light scanning interferometry, 3D topography, infrared-light interference, phase-stepping algorithm

^*E-mail address: chouxiujian@163.com