An improved method to detect riblets on surfaces in nanometer scaling using SEM

Abstract

An improved photometric method for recording a 3D-microtopogrpahy of technical surfaces will be presented. The suggested procedure employs a scanning electron microscope (SEM) as multi-detector system. The improvement in measurement is based on an extended model of the electron detection in order to evaluate the detectors signals in a different way compared to known approaches. The method will be applied on a calibration sphere in order to demonstrate the accuracy of the current approach. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.