2021 - An Insight Into Optical Metrology in Manufacturing

Measurement Science and
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Measurement Science and Technology
Meas. Sci. Technol. 32 (2021) 042003 (47pp) https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/abc578
Topical Review
An insight into optical metrology

in manufacturing
Yuki Shimizu1, Liang-Chia Chen2, Dae Wook Kim3,4, Xiuguo Chen5, Xinghui Li6
and Hiraku Matsukuma1
1
Department of Finemechanics, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
3
James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721,
United States of America
4
Department of Astronomy & Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721,
United States of America
5
School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China
6
Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055,
People’s Republic of China
E-mail: [email protected]
Received 18 August 2020, revised 2 October 2020

Accepted for publication 28 October 2020
Published 16 February 2021
Abstract
Optical metrology is one of the key technologies in today’s manufacturing industry. In this
article, we provide an insight into optical measurement technologies for precision positioning
and quality assessment in today’s manufacturing industry. First, some optical measurement
technologies for precision positioning are explained, mainly focusing on those with a multi-axis
positioning system composed of linear slides, often employed in machine tools or measuring
instruments. Some optical measurement technologies for the quality assessment of products are
then reviewed, focusing on technologies for form measurement of products with a large metric
structure, from a telescope mirror to a nanometric structure such as a semiconductor electrode.
Furthermore, we also review the state-of-the-art optical technique that has attracted attention in
recent years, optical coherence tomography for the non-destructive inspection of the internal
structures of a fabricated component, as well as super-resolution techniques for improving the
lateral resolution of optical imaging beyond the diffraction limit of light. This review article
provides insights into current and future technologies for optical measurement in the
manufacturing industry, which are expected to become even more important to meet the
industry’s continuing requirements for high-precision and high-efficiency machining.
Keywords: optical metrology, diffractometry, interferometry, deflectometry, scatterometry,
super-resolution, optical coherence tomography
(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)
1. Introduction technologies are employed in state-of-the-art manufacturing

processes, due to their ability to provide contactless and
Optical metrology plays an important role [1, 2] in today’s high-speed measurements with high resolution [3]. Although
manufacturing industry, and many optical measurement optical metrology is a huge topic which involves different
1361-6501/21/042003+47$33.00 1 © 2021 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

Meas. Sci. Technol. 32 (2021) 042003 Topical Review
measurement ranges, different surface characteristics, and dif- systems [15, 17, 18]. Optical methods such as classical inter-
ferent fields of application, the major optical measurement ferometry and deflectometry are the main solutions for this
technologies in the manufacturing industry can be classified requirement, due to their contactless, non-destructive and high
into two groups according to their main uses: those used for measurement-throughput characteristics. To date, much effort
precision positioning, and those used for the quality assess- has therefore been made to improve measurement accuracy
ment of products. while expanding the measurement range [19–22].
Optical measurement technologies for precision position- Another increasing demand for optical measurement tech-
ing are key technologies in state-of-the-art manufacturing pro- nologies in today’s manufacturing industry is in the eval-
cesses; for example, the fabrication process for semiconductor uation of micro- or nanometric structures. Conventionally,
products and/or optical components is supported by preci- such small features have been evaluated using scanning elec-
sion sensor technology with a sub-nanometric resolution [1]. tron microscopy (SEM) or atomic force microscopy (AFM)
Figure 1 summarizes the major optical measurement tech- [23–25]. However, due to their disadvantage of low meas-
nologies for precision positioning. They can be divided into urement throughputs, it is preferable to adopt a post-process
those used for the measurement of linear motion or displace- approach for optical measurement technologies capable of
ment, and those used for the measurement of angular motion contactless and non-destructive high-speed measurement in
or displacement. They can be further classified according to the manufacturing industry, where measurement throughput
their measurement principles, such as the speed of light, light is important for QC [3]. To date, much effort has been made to
wavelength, etc. Among these technologies, laser interfero- improve the lateral and vertical resolutions of microscopy, as
meters and optical linear encoders are two of the major sensor well as to realize in-situ automatic optical inspection (AOI).
types employed for precision positioning [4, 5]. By enhan- In addition, some state-of-the-art technologies referred to as
cing the characteristics of light, such as rectilinear propagation super-resolution (SR) techniques have been proposed to over-
and coherence, a sub-nanometric resolution over a measure- come the diffraction limit of optical imaging [26]. Another
ment range of more than several hundred mm can be realized method for overcoming the diffraction limit in optical met-
by these optical sensors. Meanwhile, in recent years, atten- rology is to employ optical scatterometry [7, 27] that meas-
tion has been given to reducing uncertainty in the positioning ures the statistical parameters of a surface under inspection.
of an object in three-dimensional (3D) space [1, 6]. For this This method is not a straightforward one and typically requires
purpose, planar/surface encoders capable of measuring multi- the solution of a complicated inverse problem, and also, the
axis displacement using a planar scale grating are attracting applicable targets are limited to periodic nanostructures. Nev-
attention [7, 8]. Another possible strategy for reducing posi- ertheless, optical scatterometry is finding application in crit-
tioning uncertainty is to reduce Abbe error by feedback com- ical dimension (CD) and overlay measurement in the semi-
pensation for the angular error motion of a positioning system conductor industry, due to its characteristics of being high
using an optical-angle sensor, such as an autocollimator. For throughput, non-destructive, and easy to use in setup.
this reason, some improvements have been made to conven- Furthermore, in recent years, with the advent of new pro-
tional autocollimators, including the employment of optical- cessing technologies such as additive manufacturing [8], the
frequency comb lasers [9–11]. manufacturing industry demand to realize the inspection of not
Optical measurement technologies for the quality assess- only the surface form but also the internal structures of a fab-
ment of products are also key technologies in state-of-the- ricated product has increased.
art manufacturing processes. Figure 2 summarizes the major In responding to the background described above, this
optical measurement technologies used for quality assessment article provides an insight into optical metrology for preci-
[12–14]. They can be divided into those used for the meas- sion positioning and quality assessment in today’s manufac-
urement of the surface form or texture of an object, and those turing industry. In section 2, some optical technologies for
used for the inspection of the internal structure of an object. precision positioning are treated, while mainly focusing on
In terms of the quality control (QC) of products, the import- those of a multi-axis positioning system composed of linear
ance of measuring the surface form or texture is well recog- slides, often employed in machine tools or measuring instru-
nized in today’s manufacturing industry [2, 15, 16]. The major ments in the precision manufacturing industry. We review
technologies for the measurement of surface form or texture high-precision optical displacement sensors and angle sensor
employed in the manufacturing industry are those based on far- technologies used for high-precision positioning, which are
field observation for the evaluation of the actual surface form indispensable for current high-precision machining, as well
or texture of an object. There are four major measuring techno- as application examples of multi-axis measurement. Recent
logies: triangulation, classical interferometry, scanning white technological development trends are also introduced, such as
light interferometry (often referred to as coherence scanning multi-axis optical-sensor technology with a grating reflector
interferometry (CSI)), and deflectometry. These technologies and absolute position-sensing technology that uses an optical-
each have their advantages and limitations in terms of their frequency comb-laser source. Furthermore, laser triangulation
measurement ranges, resolutions, and system sizes, and are sensors are also treated in this section, due to their import-
employed accordingly, based on the purpose (in-line or off- ance [28] in machine shops and factories, where instrument-
line) of the manufacturing process. In recent years, demand ation cost and ease of use in setup are critical issues. The
is increasing for rapid evaluation of large free-form surfaces, subsequent sections treat optical measurement technologies
which can be achieved with superior performance by optical used for quality assessment in today’s manufacturing industry,
2
Figure 1. Major optical sensors used for precision positioning (the sensors underlined are treated in section 2).
Figure 2. Major optical measurement technologies for quality assessment (the items underlined are treated in sections 3, 4 and 5).
mainly focusing on technologies used for the form measure- 2. Optical sensor technologies
ment of products, from those with a large metric structure such
as telescope mirrors, to those with a nanometric structure such In the manufacturing industry, lengths and angles are import-
as semiconductor electrodes. In section 3, we treat classical ant physical quantities that determine the form of a fabric-
interferometry and deflectometry for the measurement of large ated component. Sensor technologies for measuring lengths
free-form surfaces, which have been especially in demand and angles are thus important to guarantee the quality of fab-
in recent years, while introducing the latest technologies for ricated products. Besides, optical sensor technologies are one
measuring the surface form of astronomical telescope primary of the key technologies for precision positioning in state-of-
mirrors. In section 4, we introduce the basic principles and the-art manufacturing processes [1]. Among the optical sensor
recent development trends of scanning white-light interfero- technologies developed so far, optical sensors such as laser
metry (SWLI) and scatterometry for the evaluation of micro-or interferometers, optical linear encoders and laser triangulation
nanostructures such as MEMS (microelectromechanical sys- sensors are the main ones often employed in today’s man-
tem) products, nanometric semiconductor electrodes, etc. Fur- ufacturing industry due to their high resolution, high meas-
thermore, in section 5, we address the increasing demands urement throughput, and easy-to-use setup. Table 1 summar-
for even higher resolution and the non-destructive inspec- izes the major optical sensors for length and displacement
tion of internal structures by providing overviews of optical measurements in the manufacturing industry. In particular,
coherence tomography and SR techniques, which are emer- laser interferometers and optical linear encoders are two major
ging measurement technologies in today’s manufacturing sensors employed for precision positioning, due to their high
industry. resolution, extending as far as the sub-nanometre scale [1, 5].
3
Meanwhile, in recent years, attention has been given to redu-

cing the uncertainty of object positioning in a 3D space. The
application of an optical angle sensor, as well as the design of a
positioning system complying with the Abbe principle, could
be a solution to further reduce the uncertainty of precision
positioning [6, 29]. Furthermore, some innovations in con-
ventional laser interferometers and linear encoders have been
implemented. With the use of a reflective two-dimensional
(2D) grating in an optical encoder, multi-axis measurement
has been realized using a single measurement laser beam
[30, 31]. Also, some techniques employing an optical fre-
quency comb laser, which are directly traceable to the time
or frequency national standards, are also attracting attention
in today’s manufacturing industry due to strong demand for
measurement traceability [11].
In this section, some optical sensor technologies for the
measurement of lengths, displacements, and angles in the
manufacturing industry are reviewed. The basic principles of
the laser interferometer, optical linear encoder, and laser tri-
angulation sensor are briefly described, and examples of their
applications in the manufacturing industry are explained. In
addition, optical sensor technologies for multi-axis precision
positioning are reviewed, while focusing on a surface/planar
encoder technology with a 2D scale grating. State-of-the-art
optical angle sensor technologies, including the three-axis
laser autocollimator and the mode-locked femtosecond laser
autocollimator, which is referred to as the angle scale comb,
are also reviewed. Furthermore, an example of the applica- Figure 3. Laser interferometers: (a) homodyne quadratic phase
tion of optical sensor technology for the measurement of other detection, (b) heterodyne phase detection [1].
quantities in SI base units, a Kibble balance for the measure-
ment of mass [32], is also presented.
where nair is the refractive index of air, c0 is the speed of light
in a vacuum, f is the optical frequency, and ∆x is the displace-
2.1. Optical sensors for length and displacement
ment of a moving target. Since the light intensity, I, is modu-
measurements
lated with a period of half of λ with respect to ∆x, as shown in
2.1.1. Laser interferometers. The optical sensors for length equation (1), ∆x can be detected by counting the occurrences
and displacement measurements commonly employed in man- of constructive and destructive interference using the photo-
ufacturing are summarized in table 1. Recently, some optical detector. It should be noted that the direction of motion of a
sensors with a sub-nanometric resolution have become avail- moving target cannot be detected using a single output signal
able for single-axis measurement of length or a translational from a photodetector. Most of the commercial interferomet-
displacement and these are employed in the state-of-the-art ers therefore use at least two interference signals with a phase
manufacturing industries [1]. Among them, the laser interfer- difference of π/2 rad to judge the direction of motion. Since
ometer [19, 33] and the linear encoder [34, 35] are the main the intensity modulation of the superimposed reflected beams
optical sensors employed in the precision positioning of an is utilized for measurement, the homodyne method is poorly
object. isolated from external disturbances. On the other hand, the het-
A laser interferometer [5, 36], which is one of the optical erodyne method [19, 39, 41], in which the beat frequency of
sensors that can directly be linked to a national standard of the superimposed reflected beam is utilized for measurement,
length [37–40], measures the displacement of an object using is more stable than the homodyne method. Figure 3(b) shows
the light wavelength of a laser beam, λ, from a laser source a schematic of the heterodyne method, where two monochro-
as the scale graduation for measurement. Figure 3(a) shows matic laser beams with slightly different optical frequencies
the optical setup of an interferometer based on the homodyne f 1 and f 2 are utilized. By controlling the polarization modula-
method [41–43] with a single-mode continuous wave (CW) tion, one of the laser beams, with a frequency of f 2 , is made
laser, where the intensity, I, of the light captured by a photo- incident to the reference mirror (held stationary in this setup),
detector can be expressed by the following equation (1): while the other, with a frequency of f 1, is projected onto the
moving target. Due to a Doppler shift, the laser beam reflec-
( ) ( ) ted by the measurement mirror experiences a frequency shift
4π∆x 4πnair f∆x ∆f 1 that can be expressed by the following equation using the
I = I0 1 + cos = I0 1 + cos (1)
λ c0 velocity v of the moving target [19, 39, 41]:
4
Table 1. Major optical sensors for lengthand displacement measurements.
Laser interferometer • A light wavelength is employed as the graduation for measurement

• Homodyne and heterodynetypes are available
• Nanometric resolution over several meters
• Absolute length measurement is possible with a laser beam having multiple
wavelengths or a continuouslyvarying wavelength
• Poor isolation from external disturbance due to a large optical path difference; environ-
mental control is required for precision measurement
Linear encoder • Micropattern structures on a scale are employed as graduations for measurement
• Absolute and incrementaltypes are available
• A sub-nanometric resolution over a range of 1 m
• Nanometric resolution
Confocal probe • Confocality of an optical system is employed to detect the distance between an object-
ive lens and a target
• Several tens of nanometers’ resolution over several tens of micrometers with a mode-
locked femtosecond laser source
• Sub-nanometric resolution
Time-of-flight distance • Speed of light is utilized to detect the distance between an optical head and a target
sensor • Sub-micrometer resolution over several hundred m for a femtosecond laser system
Laser triangulation • Detects the axial position of a target as the displacement of a reflected beam on a photo-
sensor detector
• Compact optical head, easy to use in machine shops and factories
• A sub-micrometric resolution over several tens of mm
Optic fiber sensor • Detects fiber deformation by observing the spectrum of transmitted light
• Can be employed to measure temperature and force by observing fiber deformation
• Nanometric resolution over several micrometers
∆f1 = 2vnair f1 2vnair f1 c0 − c0 . (2) environmental control is therefore required for accurate dis-
placement measurement.
Since the difference of the optical frequencies (f 1 –f 2 ) of
the two laser beams from the light source is known, being
a design parameter, the velocity v of the measurement mir- 2.1.2. Optical linear encoders. An optical linear encoder
ror can be obtained by detecting the optical frequency of the [34, 35, 50], which is another of the main optical sensors for
beat signal (f 1 + ∆f 1 –f 2 ). By integrating v with respect to precision positioning, measures the displacement of a scale
time, the displacement of the moving target can be detected. with respect to an optical reading head. Optical linear encoders
A sub-nanometric resolution has been achieved by these laser can be classified into the absolute type [35, 50, 51] and the
interferometers due to their enhancement with a signal inter- incremental type [34, 52]. In the absolute type of optical
polation technique. Also, due to the long working distance of encoder, a scale with a serial code structure such as an M-
the laser interferometer, multi-axis measurement can easily code [53, 54], which is unique over the measuring length of
be achieved by splitting the laser beam into sub-beams and the scale, provides absolute positional information. The abso-
preparing the corresponding multiple receivers. Nowadays, lute type has increased its market share in recent years due to
laser interferometers are widely employed in many applic- its cost, robustness, and high throughput when enhanced by
ations where ultra-precise positioning with feedback from a high-speed image sensor [1]. Meanwhile, most of the abso-
precision displacement sensors is mandatory [19, 44]. Fur- lute scales have an incremental track, which can be employed
thermore, some notable techniques have been developed to in the same manner as the incremental type, to achieve high-
carry out absolute distance measurement by employing mul- resolution position measurement. Figure 4 shows a schematic
tiple wavelengths simultaneously in parallel or in sequence, of the interferential scanning type of linear encoder, which is
or by continuously varying the wavelength [45–47]. Mean- an example of the incremental type. With the use of a scale
while, due to the large optical path difference (OPD) between that has an incremental track composed of equally-spaced
the reference arm and the measurement arm, a laser interfero- line-pattern structures, an interferential scanning-type linear
meter can easily be affected by the fluctuations of the refract- encoder can achieve a sub-nanometric resolution. A light ray
ive index of air, nair , induced by external disturbances such as from a light source is made incident to the scale at a right angle
temperature, humidity, and ambient pressure [48, 49]. Strict to generate diffracted beams, and the first-order diffracted
5
Figure 4. Interferential scanning-type linear encoder.
Figure 5. A multi-axis positioning system employing multiple

beams are then superimposed to generate an interference sig- interferometers. Reproduced from [6]. © IOP Publishing Ltd. All
rights reserved.
nal. Denoting the period of the line-pattern structures on a
scale grating as g, the light intensity I LE detected by the photo-
detector in the optical head can be expressed by the following in most applications, it is not easy to design a multi-axis pos-
equation [34, 41]: itioning system complying with the Abbe principle, mainly
due to the restrictions that come from the mechanical design
( ) of such a system.
4π∆x
ILE = I0 1 + cos (3)
g
2.1.3. Multi-axis optical encoders. To overcome the afore-
where ∆x is the x-directional scale displacement with respect mentioned problems in a multi-axis positioning system,
to the optical head. As can be seen from the equation, con- optical sensors known as planar/surface encoders have been
structive and destructive interference repeats with a displace- developed that are capable of measuring multi-axis displace-
ment ∆x of g/2. As can be seen in figure 4, the superimposed ments using a single measurement laser beam [30, 58–63].
first-order diffracted beams are split into two sub-beams, and Figure 6 shows a schematic of the measurement principle of
one of the sub-beams is made to pass through a polarizer to an optical surface encoder capable of measuring primary in-
apply a phase retardance of π/2 rad. By using the two inter- plane (XY) displacements and the secondary out-of-plane (Z)
ference signals obtained, which have a phase difference of displacement of a scale XY grating using a single measure-
π/2 rad, the displacement ∆x can be detected at a high res- ment laser beam. The scale XY grating and a reference XY
olution while distinguishing the direction of motion through grating are employed instead of the measurement mirror and
signal interpolation. the reference mirror, respectively, of a conventional Michael-
By employing several one-axis precision optical- son interferometer. The reference XY grating is held station-
displacement sensors such as linear encoders and/or laser ary in space, while the scale XY grating can travel in the X-,
interferometers, multi-axis positional measurement can be Y- and Z-directions. The laser beam from a laser diode (LD)
carried out for precision positioning [6, 29, 55, 56]. Figure 5 unit is split into two sub-beams (the measurement and refer-
shows an example of a multi-axis positioning system where ence beams) using a beam splitter. The measurement beam
multiple laser interferometers are employed [6]. In this sys- and the reference beam are made incident to the measurement
tem, a probe for the profile measurement of a sample is held mirror and the reference mirror, respectively, to obtain the X-
stationary in 3D space, while the X-, Y- and Z-directional and Y-directional diffracted beams. The positive and negative
motions are given to the sample by a multi-axis positioning first-order diffracted beams from the XY gratings are super-
system whose motion is measured by three laser interfero- imposed at the beam splitter to generate interference signals
meters. The three laser interferometers are arranged in the (IX+1 , IX−1 , IY+1 , IY−1 ) that can be captured by photodetect-
setup in such a way that the beam axes intersect at the tip of ors. The primary motions of the scale XY grating in the X−
the probe; namely, the system is designed to satisfy the Abbe and Y-directions (∆x, ∆y) can be detected in the same man-
principle [57]. Such a multi-axis positioning system can also ner as that used by conventional interferential scanning-type
be constructed by arranging several linear encoders in such a linear encoders through signal interpolation of interference
way that that measurement axes of the linear scales intersect at signals having a phase difference of π/2. Also, the second-
the position where the tip of a probe for profile measurement ary motion of the scale grating in the Z-direction (∆z) can be
is placed to satisfy the Abbe principle [29]. However, it is not obtained by detecting the phases of the first-order diffracted
so easy to apply these sensor arrangements in a small system beams in the same manner as that used by the conventional
where the space available for the sensors is limited. Besides, homodyne method. Experimental results have demonstrated
6
Figure 7. Surface encoder with a mosaic scale grating. Reproduced

from [64]. © IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
can avoid the issues that arise from scale deformation due
to gravity.
The concept of a planar/surface encoder with multiple
measurement beams can also be extended to the measure-
ment of the rotary motion of an object. Figure 8 shows the
optical layout of the Z-θZ sensor [71]. In this setup, 2D sinus-
oidal micropattern structures fabricated on a cylindrical mov-
Figure 6. A surface encoder for the measurement of three-axis ing element by a fast tool servo technique [60] are read by
(XYZ) translational displacement. Reprinted from [58], copyright multiple laser measurement beams. Using a quadrant photo-
(2012), with permission from Elsevier. diode (QPD) with four active cells aligned in a matrix, Z-
directional translational motion and rotational motion about
the Z-axis can be detected simultaneously. It should be noted
that the influence of the form errors of the sinusoidal micro-
that simultaneous three-axis displacement measurement with pattern structures can be reduced by the averaging effect of
a sub-nanometric resolution can be carried out using XY grat- multiple measurement beams.
ings with a pitch of 1 µm [58].
The measurement range of a planar/surface encoder along
the primary axes (XY) is determined by the in-plane size of the 2.1.4. Laser triangulation sensors. Laser triangulation
scale XY grating. With the increase of wafer diameters in the sensors are often employed in industrial fields where fast
semiconductor industry, a measurement range of more than and contactless measurements with a resolution of less than a
500 mm × 500 mm in the primary axes is required for a posi- micrometre are required. Figure 9 shows two types of optical
tioning system. For this purpose, a scale XY grating larger than head for a laser triangulation sensor. The angle of incidence
500 mm × 500 mm is required; however, the fabrication of of the measuring laser beam should be selected based on the
such a large-scale XY grating costs too much. Furthermore, the surface reflectivity of the object under measurement. In the
deformation of a large-scale grating due to gravity could result case of measuring a mirror surface, an oblique incident angle
in a degradation of measurement accuracy. To address these is selected, as shown in figure 9(a). According to the geomet-
issues, the concept of the mosaic grating is introduced for a ric relationship of the setup, the target displacement, ∆d, can
planar/surface encoders [64]. Figure 7 shows a planar encoder be expressed by the following equation:
with a mosaic scale grating composed of several small-scale p
XY gratings aligned in a matrix. As can be seen in the figure, ∆d = ∆h′ cos β (4)
s
a group of optical heads arranged in a matrix for three-axis
displacement measurement is employed to read the in-plane where β is the angle of incidence of the measurement laser
displacement of the mosaic scale grating. Using a stitching beam for the target surface, p is the distance between the tar-
technique on the readings from the group of optical heads, the get surface and the lens, s is the distance between the lens
arrangements of the optical heads and the small-scale gratings and the detector plane, and ∆h′ is the spot displacement on
enable the planar/surface encoder to treat the small-scale XY a position-sensing detector. With the use of image sensors
gratings as a large-scale XY grating. A small-scale grating can such as charge-coupled devices (CCDs) or complementary
easily be fabricated, based on the perspectives of technology metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS) as the position-sensing
and cost [65–70]. Furthermore, the mosaic scale grating detectors, the measurement range of a commercial laser
7
Figure 9. Laser triangulation sensors with (a) oblique incidence and

(b) right-angle incidence.
Figure 10. Cutting error measurement of flexspline gears of

harmonic speed reducers by laser triangulation sensors. Reprinted
Figure 8. Z-θ encoder. Reproduced from [71], copyright (2010), from [73], copyright (2004), with permission from Elsevier.
with permission from Elsevier.
the influence of speckle noise. The resolution of most of the

triangulation sensor can be up to 10 mm [72]. Meanwhile,
commercially available laser-triangulation sensors, which is
in the case of measuring a rough surface, the measurement
mainly limited by the resolution of the detector, is on the order
laser beam is set to be incident to the measuring surface at
of 0.1 µm.
a right angle, as shown in figure 9(b). In this case, the dis-
Figure 10 shows an example of a laser-triangulation sensor
placement ∆d can be expressed as follows, using the initial
deployed in an industrial application [73]. The two laser beams
spot position h′ and the spot displacement ∆h′ on the detector
from a pair of laser-triangulation sensors are projected onto
plane:
different tooth surfaces of a flexspline gear of harmonic speed
( ) reducers with a certain spacing for evaluation of the tooth
1 1
∆d = w · s − (5) thickness. One of the advantages of the laser triangulation
h′ h′ + ∆h′ sensor is its long working distance; this feature enables the
laser triangulation sensor to be employed in many industrial
where w is the distance between the laser beam and the lens applications [74–77].
axis, while s is the distance between the lens and the detector
plane. It should be noted that h′ is determined by w, the ini-
tial target position d and the focal length of the lens; these are 2.1.5. Absolute distance measurement by a mode-locked
designed parameters in the optical setup. Therefore, by detect- femtosecond laser. In the last two decades, several meth-
ing ∆h′ , the displacement of the target surface, ∆d, can be ods have been developed for absolute length measurement
measured. With the use of scanner systems, laser triangula- using the optical frequency comb of an ultra-short pulse
tion can also achieve fast 3D profile measurement. Meanwhile, laser [78–81]. With the development of fiber-based femto-
factors such as the working distance, the angle of incidence second laser sources [10, 82] capable of being fabricated
of the measuring laser beam with respect to the target sur- even in laboratories where facilities and budgets are limited,
face, the local slope of the target surface, and the influence of the application of optical-frequency comb sources to dimen-
ambient light can all affect the accuracy of laser triangulation sional metrology is being accelerated. Figure 11 shows an
sensors. In particular, the speckle noise due to the roughness example of a method based on time-of-flight (TOF) meas-
or texture of a target surface can strongly affect measurement urement employing a mode-locked femtosecond laser source
accuracy, since the displacement of a target surface is detected [81]. A mode-locked femtosecond laser beam from the laser
by observing the displacement of a focused laser beam at the source is first collimated and is then divided into two sub-
detector. This problem can be avoided by employing a light beams. One sub-beam is employed as the reference beam,
source with a small temporal and/or spatial coherence. The while the other is employed as the measurement beam. The
employment of a large observation aperture can also reduce reference beam is made incident to a reference reflector held
8
Figure 11. Absolute distance measurement based on the

time-of-flight (TOF) method with a mode-locked femtosecond laser
source. Reprinted from [81]. © IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights Figure 12. Femtosecond laser chromatic confocal probe.
reserved. Reproduced from [83]. © IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
stationary in space, while the measurement beam is projected same manner as a linear encoder. An interferential scanning-
onto a target reflector capable of traveling along the measure- type rotary encoder, for which the principle of reading the grat-
ment beam’s axis. To obtain a reflected measurement beam ing patterns is almost the same as that of the linear encoder,
with a sufficient light intensity, a retroreflector is employed can carry out angular measurement with a high resolution over
as the target reflector. Pulse trains in the reflected measure- 360◦ . In the national measuring institute of Japan, an encoder
ment beam and those in the reflected reference beam are detec- system with multiple optical heads has achieved a resolution of
ted by a balanced cross-correlator using second-harmonic 0.0015 arc-second while assuring angle measurement accur-
generation (SHG) by a nonlinear optical crystal to obtain acy of ±0.03 arc-second over a range of 360◦ [87]. An optical
the absolute distance to the target reflector [81]. In the pro- rotary encoder can be employed in applications where the rota-
posed method, absolute distance measurement with a sub- tional axis of a measuring object is fixed in space. Therefore,
micrometre precision has been achieved at a working distance it is difficult to employ a rotary encoder in applications where
of 700 m. the working distance between an optical head and a disk scale
Figure 12 shows another example of the measurement of could be changed; for example, in the case of evaluating the
the absolute position of a target using a mode-locked femto- angular error motion of a table in a precision linear slide. In
second laser source in a chromatic confocal probe [83–86]. such a case, angular measurement can be carried out using
A mode-locked femtosecond laser beam from a fiber-based laser interferometers with multiple laser measuring beams if
laser source has a non-uniform spectrum; this characteristic an appropriate laser source and a sufficient number of photore-
of the laser source strongly affects the axial response curve ceivers are available [88, 89].
in a confocal probe for absolute position measurement. To
address this issue, a dual-detector configuration is employed
in the optical setup, as shown in figure 12. By obtaining two 2.2.1. Autocollimator. An alternative method for the cases
axial response curves with two fiber detectors in different con- where a rotary encoder cannot be applied is to employ an
focal setups, the influence of the non-uniform spectrum of the optical autocollimator [90–92]. In an autocollimator, by using
mode-locked femtosecond laser beam, as well as the influence a collimator objective (CO) with a long focal length, a high
of the surface reflectivity of the measurement target, can be resolution of better than 0.01 arc-second can be achieved. By
eliminated through a differential operation. With the enhance- employing a CCD or a CMOS image sensor, a wide meas-
ment of peak-detecting algorithms, absolute positional measurement range of over ±1◦ can also be achieved [91]. How-
urement with a resolution of 20 nm has been achieved [83]. ever, since the sensor’s sensitivity is in proportion to the focal
Table 2 summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of length of the CO [93], the size of the sensor tends to become
the optical length and displacement sensors treated in this larger as the sensor sensitivity increases. On the other hand,
section. a laser autocollimator, which is based on laser autocollima-
tion [94] and employs a monochromatic laser source, can be
designed to have a compact size while achieving a high resolu-
tion. Figure 13 shows a schematic of the optical setup of a two-
2.2. Optical angle sensor
axis laser autocollimator having a photodiode with four active
The main optical-angle sensors are summarized in table 3. cells (a QPD) as the photodetector [95]. The use of the pho-
A rotary encoder is one of the major optical-angle sensors todiode makes the sensor sensitivity independent of the focal
employed in manufacturing processes [1, 50]. In a rotary length of the CO [94, 95]. As a result, a compact optical angle
encoder, circumferential patterns on a disk scale’s surface sensor having a high resolution of more than 0.001 arc-second
are employed as the graduations for angle measurement and can be achieved [96]. Furthermore, the use of a multi-cell PD
are read by an optical head. Optical rotary encoders are also can offer a wide measurement range without sacrificing the
classified into the absolute type and the incremental type, in the resolution [97].
9
Table 2. Advantages and disadvantages of the optical length and displacement sensors treated in this section.
Laser interfero- • Sub-nanometric resolution

meter • Long measurement range
• Absolute measurement is possible with a multi-wavelength technique
• Easy to design a measurement system complying with the Abbe principle
• Easily affected by external disturbances
Linear encoder • Sub-nanometric resolution

• Measurement range: up to several meters (in the case of a glass scale)
• Absolute measurement is possible
• Robust against external disturbance
• Scale deformation could affect the measurement
• Difficult to comply with the Abbe principle in most applications
Multi-axis • Sub-nanometric resolution

optical encoder • Multi-axis translational and angular motions can be measured by a single laser
beam using a planar scale grating
• Measurement range is limited by the size of a planar scale grating (this can be
overcome by the mosaic grating technique [64])
• Need to establish a method for the calibration of a planar scale grating
Laser triangula- • Sub-micrometric resolution

tion sensor • Easy-to-use setup in the manufacturing industry
• Measurement range: up to several tens of mm
• Measurements can be affected by the surface characteristics of a measurement
target
Absolute dis- [TOF]

tance meas- • Sub-micrometric accuracy over a wide measurement range (working distance:
urement by a 700 m)
mode-locked • Absolute measurement is possible
femtosecond • High instrumentation cost (Chromatic confocal probe)
laser • Resolution: up to 20 nm
• A limited measurement range of up to several tens of µm (need to optimize the
design of a chromatic objective lens)
• A high instrumentation cost
Table 3. Major optical sensors for angle measurement.
Rotary encoder • Uses patterns on a disk scale surface as graduations for angular measurement
• Absolute and incremental types are available
• Measurement accuracy of up to ±0.03 arc-second over a measurement range of
360◦
• Can only be applied in cases having a fixed axis of rotation.
Autocollimator • Detects the displacement of a measurement beam reflected from a target sur-
face to measure angular displacement of the target
• Can be applied for in cases with no fixed axis of rotation.
• A high resolution of better than 0.001 arc-second is possible for the laser auto-
collimator
• A wide measurement range over 6◦ can be possible with the use of a mode-
locked femtosecond laser and a grating reflector
Fiber optic gyroscope • Detects the angular velocity of the setup based on the Sagnac effect
• Drift components in the angle reading are not suitable for use in manufacturing
processes
• Nanometric resolution
10
beam cannot be detected. For simultaneous measurement of

three-axis (θX θY θZ ) angular displacements, a pair of ortho-
gonally aligned 2D autocollimators is required. For the case
of measuring three-axis angular displacement using a laser
interferometer system, six laser measuring beams and the
corresponding photoreceivers, as well as complicated optical
alignments, are required. To address this issue, a three-axis
laser autocollimator has been developed [103]. Figure 15
shows a three-axis laser autocollimator where a grating
reflector is employed instead of the flat mirror reflector
employed in conventional autocollimators and laser autocol-
Figure 13. Laser autocollimator for two-axis angle measurement. limators. Also, an additional autocollimation unit composed of
Reproduced from [95]. © IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. a CO and a QPD is added to the setup to detect the zeroth-order
diffracted beam as well as the first-order diffracted beam. The
zeroth-order diffracted beam is employed to detect the angular
displacement of the target about the X- and Y-axes (∆θX and
∆θY ) in the figure. The zeroth-order diffracted beam is insens-
itive to the angular displacement of the target about the Z-axis
(∆θZ ). On the other hand, the first-order diffracted beam is
sensitive to the three-axis angular displacement of the grating
reflector. Therefore, by detecting the zeroth-order and the first-
order diffracted beams simultaneously with the correspond-
ing autocollimation units and carrying out a simple calcula-
tion, the angular displacement of the grating reflector about
the Z-axis can be detected. It should be noted that, due to the
different measurement principles, the sensitivity of measure-
ment of ∆θZ is different to that of ∆θX and ∆θY . However,
this can be compensated for by adding an optical magnifier
composed of a pair of lenses, as shown in figure 15. Using
Figure 14. On-machine measurement of sinusoidal micropatterns this setup, simultaneous measurement of the three-axis angu-
fabricated on a cylindrical workpiece. Reprinted from [102],
lar displacement of a grating reflector has been achieved, with
copyright (2006), with permission from Elsevier.
a resolution better than 0.01 arc-second [103]. Furthermore,
with the employment of a reference float supporting a scale
Laser autocollimators can also be employed to evaluate the grating, the concept of the three-axis laser autocollimator can
surface form of an object [21, 98–101]. By scanning the meas- be extended to a liquid-surface-based three-axis inclination
urement laser beam of a laser autocollimator over the surface sensor [104].
under inspection, a series of local slope data can be obtained, It should be noted that the three-axis laser autocollim-
from which the surface form can be reconstructed. The influ- ator can easily be combined with the three-axis surface
ences of the scanning motion errors can be canceled by the encoder [58] introduced in the previous section to construct
use of a pentaprism [21, 99] or a multi-probe method [98]. a six-degree-of-freedom (six-DOF) surface encoder that can
Furthermore, the application of laser autocollimators can also measure three-axis translational displacements (XYZ) and
be expanded to the measurement of microstructures. Figure 14 three-axis angular displacements (θX θY θZ ) with a single meas-
shows an example of the on-machine measurement of micro- urement laser beam [30]. By arranging the displacement
structures by an optical angle sensor [102]. By employing a assembly and the angular assembly in such a way that these
cylindrical lens, multiple beams are projected onto the cyl- assemblies share a single measurement laser beam and scale
indrical workpiece in such a way that the same phase positions grating, the optical head of the six-DOF surface encoder can be
in different periods of the sinusoidal microstructures can be designed to have a compact size [30, 31]. Crosstalk between
evaluated. By using the setup shown in the figure, on-machine the displacement assembly and the angular assembly can be
measurement of sinusoidal microstructures with an amplitude suppressed by careful design of the optical setup [105].
of 100 nm and a pitch of 100 µm has been achieved.
2.2.3. Femtosecond laser autocollimator. Applications of

2.2.2. Three-axis laser autocollimator. Conventional auto- the mode-locked femtosecond laser source to optical angle
collimators and laser autocollimators can carry out two-axis sensors have also been seen in recent years [31], with
angle measurement using an image sensor, a QPD or multiple the development of fiber-based femtosecond laser sources
single-cell photodiodes as the photodetector. Meanwhile, due [10, 82]. Figure 16 shows a schematic of the ‘angle scale
to the principle of angular measurement, the angular dis- comb’ that can be employed as the scale graduation for
placement of a target about the axis of the measurement optical angle measurement [106]. The optical modes of a
11
Figure 16. An angle scale comb generated by an optical frequency

comb and a two-axis grating reflector. Reprinted from [106],
Figure 15. A three-axis laser autocollimator. Reprinted from [103],

mode-locked femtosecond laser equally spaced in the optical

frequency domain are converted into a group of first-order dif-
fracted beams (an angle scale comb), each of which has an Figure 17. A femtosecond laser autocollimator with an
angle of diffraction corresponding to its optical frequency with optical-frequency-domain angle-measurement method. Reproduced
from [108]. CC BY 4.0.
the dispersive characteristics of a grating reflector. Multi-axis
angular measurement can be achieved by an angle scale comb
using a 2D diffraction grating. By combining an angle scale
comb with conventional laser autocollimation, high-resolution Figure 19 shows an example of optical displacement sensors
angle measurement over a wide range can be achieved with used in a system for the measurement of mass, which is
an optical head designed to be compact [107]. Furthermore, referred to as the Kibble balance [115, 116]. This system has
observation of the optical frequency comb emanating from been developed at a compact size so that gram-level precision
the grating reflector in the optical frequency domain enables mass measurements can be carried out in industrial laborator-
the reading head to resolve the modes overlapping at the fiber ies without referring to a calibrated artifact. This system can be
detector with high visibility [108, 109]. Figure 17 shows a operated in two different modes, the velocity mode based on
mode-locked femtosecond laser autocollimator with an optical Faraday’s law and the force mode associated with the Lorentz
frequency-domain angle measurement method. A high resol- force. By utilizing these two modes, electrical and mechan-
ution of better than 0.03 arc-second over a wide angular meas- ical powers are linked with each other. The system is mainly
urement range of more than six degrees has been achieved composed of the main mass side (MMS) related to the velo-
so far [106–109]. In addition to the angle scale comb, some city and force mode, and a counter mass side, and both sides
methods for angular measurement with a mode-locked femto- are hung using a titanium fibre through a truncated wheel.
second laser utilizing SHG [110], chromatic aberration of a By comparing the weight of an object of interest to a calib-
lens [111] etc., have been developed so far [112]. Table 4 sum- rated electromagnetic force determined by electrical quantit-
marizes the advantages and disadvantages of the optical angle ies, an absolute measurement of weight can be carried out. The
sensors treated in this section. counter-mass side acts as a driving motor in the velocity mode.
In this setup, a heterodyne-type interferometer with a dual-
frequency 2.83 MHz Zeeman split-laser source is employed
2.3. Optical sensors contributing to the measurement of
for measurement and control of the Z-directional motion of the
major physical quantities
air-bearing shaft attached to the coil of the MMS. Attention is
In the current SI system of units, some physical quantit- paid to the position of the reference mirror in the interfero-
ies are associated with each other, as shown in figure 18 meter to minimize the OPD of the sub-beams in the interfero-
[113]. Optical sensors for the measurement of length and meter and reduce the influence of common-mode noise com-
displacement therefore contribute to the measurement of other ponents. Interference signals are detected by two time-interval
physical quantities, such as mass and temperature [114]. analyzers, which are capable of detecting frequency and time
12
Table 4. Advantages and disadvantages of the optical angle sensors treated in this section.
Autocollimator • Resolution: up to 0.005 arc-second

with an image • Two-axis measurement is possible with an image sensor
sensor • A wide measurement range of up to several thousand arc-seconds
• Sensitivity depends on the focal length of a collimator objective → Relatively
large optical setup for high-sensitivity measurement
Laser autocol- • Resolution beyond 0.001 arc-second is possible

limator (based • Sensitivity is independent of the focal length of a collimator objective→A com-
on laser auto- pact optical setup
collimation) • A limited measurement range of up to several hundred arc-seconds (this limita-
tion can be overcome by a multi-cell photodiode [97])
Three-axis laser • Resolution: up to 0.01 arc-second

autocollimator • Three-axis angular displacement can be measured simultaneously
• A grating reflector is required
Femtosecond • Resolution: 0.1 arc-second

laser autocol- • A wide measurement range over 10 000 arc-seconds
limator • Robust measurement in the optical frequency domain
• Absolute measurement is possible
• A grating reflector is required
• Measurement throughput is restricted by the spectrometer employed in the
optical head
• A high instrumentation cost
intervals at high speed; one is employed for the feedback con-

trol of the system, while the other is employed so that the velo-
city can be detected when triggered by a signal from the field
programmable gate array (FPGA). It should be noted that a
10 MHz reference clock linked to a GPS timer is provided to
the system. Also, another optical system composed of a corner
cube, a laser source and a position-sensitive detector (PSD) is
employed to measure the motion of the air-bearing shaft in
the horizontal direction. Optical form interferometry, which is
described in the following section of this paper, is also contrib-
uting to the establishment of a mass standard for the SI base
units [114, 117].
3. Optical form interferometry and deflectometry
The optimal functionality of various scientific and commer-

cial optical systems is often enabled by unique optical surfaces
such as aspheric lenses and free form optics. The measurement Figure 18. The new SI system of units.
of optical surface forms requires a distinct dynamic range, pre-
cision, and accuracy. Different approaches and technologies
are utilized to measure a specific aspect of the surface form and contents of the optical surface form. For instance, the spatial
the associated optical quality. To achieve optical systems with frequencies of the lens surface will directly impact the spatial
a higher spatial resolution, a wider field of view, and better irradiance distribution of the point spread function (PSF) at the
speed (i.e. smaller f-numbers), the optical surfaces of mirrors imaging plane. An example of the loss in PSF quality due to
and lenses are becoming highly aspheric, off-axis, and free- mid-spatial frequency errors is shown in figure 20 [118].
form, requiring non-traditional metrology solutions. Various advanced metrology concepts and methods have
Traditional optical form/figure specifications include peak- been researched and developed to measure and test optical sur-
to-valley (PV) and root-mean-square (RMS) surface errors. faces across the low-, mid- and high-spatial-frequency bands.
For the highest-quality optical systems, however, the tradi- In particular, interferometry and deflectometry have been the
tional specification methods do not ensure high-contrast ima- two main solutions for measurement and control of modern
ging performance, which is affected by the spatial frequency optical manufacturing and production.
13
Figure 19. Laser interferometers employed in a Kibble balance.

Reproduced from [116]. © IOP Publishing Ltd. CC BY 3.0.
Figure 21. The interferometric LSST optical test configuration in

the test tower at the University of Arizona. The lower black bridge
contains the M3 nulling interferometry unit, and the upper bridge
contains the M1 nulling interferometry unit. Image credit:
H Martin.
sensitivity and measurement resolution rapidly increase when

measuring deviations from the ideal. Therefore, a null test is
usually performed on optical components, subsystems, or the
Figure 20. A PSF comparison of two identically specified optical
full system as a final acceptance test.
systems shows a highly focused irradiance spot for the
well-controlled mid-spatial-frequency case (left) and a scattered
focus pattern for the case with mid-spatial frequency errors in the 3.1.2. CGH interferometry. For aspherical or freeform mir-
optics (right). The color shows the relative irradiance in each PSF
on the detector plane. Image credit: R Parks. ror or lens applications, nulling interferometry typically util-
izes a CGH as the nulling optic in an interferometry setup
because of the superb accuracies of the holographic patterning
3.1. Optical form interferometry
process developed by the semiconductor-lithography industry.
This high-accuracy aspheric metrology can guide and con-
3.1.1. Null interferometric testing. As a ‘gold standard’ met- firm precision optical-manufacturing processes. For instance,
rology solution for precision optics testing, an interferometric the last step in the computer-controlled optical-surfacing pro-
null test comparing the real wavefront from the unit under test cess of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) primary mir-
(UUT) with the ideal reference wavefront is often configured ror segments, (the telescope has about 13–14 mm of aspheric
and performed using a computer-generated hologram (CGH) departure), was guided by the CGH-based interferometry sys-
or null optics such as the Offner null lens. The interferomet- tem shown in figure 22. The specific nulling configuration
ric null test is modeled and designed using an ideal optical used both fold spheres to accommodate a large portion of
surface shape or an optical system model, such that any devi- the astigmatism in the test wavefront and the CGH to gen-
ation from a perfect null (i.e. an exact match between the refer- erate the remaining higher-order nulling wavefront compon-
ence and test wavefronts) will precisely measure the wavefront ents [120]. A typical CGH-based interferometric test usually
error, compared to nominal design. This nulling approach has provides sub-nanometre-level metrology information to guide
excellent sensitivity and accuracy for measuring a small devi- an optical manufacturing process. The 8.4 m GMT primary
ation from the modeled case. As an example, figure 21 shows mirror was completed with a 20 nm RMS residual error as
a view of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) test measured by the hybrid null test [121].
optics looking up into the test tower from the 8.4 m monolithic As another great advantage of CGH, diverse holographic
primary–tertiary mirror under test. The lower bridge contains alignment patterns can be designed and included outside of the
the tertiary mirror (M3) null test, and the upper bridge contains metrology nulling CGH pattern to assist the test-configuration
the primary (M1) test [119]. alignment and positioning [122]. Since the auxiliary alignment
In contrast to non-null deflectometry solutions, the inter- patterns are lithographically printed on the CGH glass sub-
ferometric test has a limited dynamic range, since it can- strate at the same time as the main metrology null pattern, all
not acquire an interference fringe pattern as the UUT devi- the holographic patterns are precisely aligned to one another
ates from its modeled form. However, at the same time, its at almost no additional cost.
14
Figure 22. Three-step wavefront control (left) using a hybrid

nulling configuration with two fold spheres and a CGH corrector.
The interferometer’s spherical wavefront is shaped by the CGH, the
76 cm sphere, and the 3.75 m sphere installed in the testing tower
(right) to match the GMT primary mirror’s ideal aspheric departure.
Image credit: H Martin.
Figure 23. Custom sub-aperture stitching interferometry hardware
3.1.3. Sub-aperture stitching interferometry. In the era of setup to measure a highly aspheric convex mirror ∼1 m in diameter.
The 4D sensor is a commercial interferometry sensor by 4D
freeform optics design and manufacturing, sub-aperture stitch- Technology. Image credit: C Oh.
ing interferometryis an important emerging area. In this
method, small local sections of the full clear aperture are meas-
Accurate and precise positioning of the sub-aperture met-
ured individually in such a way that the entire UUT area is
rology unit within the global coordinate frame is essential to
covered by an overlapping array of measurements. For aspher-
adjust and compensate for the motion and tolerance of the
ical measurement applications, to generate local nulling con-
metrology system. A custom-designed and -built sub-aperture
ditions, CGH or nulling optical components are often used to
interferometric stitching system [126] to test a convex aspheric
create matching wavefronts that are transmitted though lenses
mirror ∼1 m in diameter is shown in figure 23. In this config-
or reflected by mirrors under test.
uration, the CGH was designed to compensate for the majority
This local nulling interferometric approach is essential
of the common aspheric wavefront departures, considering all
when testing highly freeform surfaces or large-aperture con-
the sub-apertures.
vex optics. For instance, the sub-aperture stitching method
enables the measurement of steep convex surfaces (e.g. a wide
3.1.4. Adaptable interferometry. Freeform or steep convex
field of view aspheric lens, or a small f-numbered telescope
optics metrology creates a challenging problem when design-
secondary mirror). Traditional null interferometry cannot eas-
ing the null testing CGH pattern or the nulling optics for all the
ily measure large convex apertures because the testing output
sub-aperture local measurement configurations. Several clever
beam size needs to be larger than the convex surface UUT.
methods utilizing reconfigurable null hardware concepts have
To achieve a series of multiple sub-aperture measurements,
been developed. An adaptive optical-wavefront nulling to
the system geometry is systematically adjusted by translating
accommodate each sub-aperture measurement region can be
and/or rotating the UUT and/or the interferometer system. A
accomplished using specialized active optical components
circular sub-aperture is commonly used, and a local nulling
such as Zernike plates or prisms [125, 127, 128].
is achieved for each section of the UUT. However, since the
A sub-aperture stitching interferometry setup enabling a
method does not measure the full aperture at once, various sub-
precise interferometric form measurement of large convex
aperture regions can be optimized or adapted, such as the annu-
aspheric optics utilizes a multi-axis hardware platform and an
lar region [123] and the elliptical sub-aperture approach [124].
actively rotating CGH pair to minimize systematic metrology
Sub-aperture measurements are stitched together using
errors in each sub-aperture measurement [129]. The overall
common features such as fiducials or the common overlapping
adaptive interferometer system and the annually stitched map
areas among neighboring sub-apertures. Stitching the indi-
are shown in figure 24.
vidual sub-aperture measurements together may create uncer-
tainties and stitching residual errors. Various algorithms such
as modal and zonal fitting can be applied to align and stitch 3.1.5. Instantaneous interferometry. Single-shot instantan-
the large local data set to reconstruct the entire surface or eous interferometry technologies have been developed. These
wavefront map. For instance, a specialized stitching algorithm metrology solutions acquire all the measurement data at
has been investigated to manage steep surface measurement an instantaneous moment (i.e. single-shot). Such instantan-
cases, which may produce unique residual errors when recon- eous capability captures rapidly varying wavefront variations
structing the full metrology map [125]. caused by air turbulence or the testing hardware’s vibration
15
Figure 25. Schematic layout of a visible deflectometry system

utilizing a flat display. The camera and monitor are placed near the
Figure 24. An adaptable sub-aperture interferometry setup, center of curvature of the UUT. Image credit: D Kim.
utilizing a multi-axis platform (left) and a rotating CGH pair (inset),
enables high-precision convex measurements. The annually stitched
entire surface map (right) can be acquired after calibrating for The schematic deflectometry layout is depicted in figure 25
system errors. Image credit: S Chen. [131]. This test directly measures the local slope distribution
of the UUT by tracing the ray path from the display pixel to
the camera aperture. This is a non-null approach and provides
during measurements. By measuring and averaging multiple
a large dynamic range (i.e. a measurable error range compared
measurements, such short-time-scale random variations can
with the nominal shape), which is largely defined by the dis-
be averaged out. This is especially critical in the context
play size and configuration geometry.
of large astronomical optics testing and manufacturing pro-
A visible wavelength deflectometry system utilizes an off-
cesses, where the optical testing path lengths easily exceed
the-shelf screen as the light source, which can display vari-
many meters. Also, these single-shot measurements are used
ous time-varying irradiance patterns, such as sinusoidal phase-
to measure and monitor dynamic motions, as used in, for
shifting patterns. A precisely configured and calibrated vis-
example, adaptive optics surface metrology during continuous
ible deflectometry system can make nanometer-level accur-
shape changes.
acy measurements. As an accuracy demonstration of precision
For instantaneous data acquisition, all the information
deflectometry, a surface measurement comparison of the GMT
required to calculate wavefront phase unknowns is multi-
primary mirror off-axis segments was made when both deflec-
plexed in the single-shot imaging acquisition. For instance, an
tometry and interferometry measurements were available. The
instantaneous interferometer was designed and built to char-
resulting surfaces formed a data match to <25 nm RMS differ-
acterize the dynamic response due to environmental expos-
ence, which lies within the uncertainty level of the metrology
ure of the flight hardware opto-mechanics of the James Webb
systems.
Space Telescope (JWST). The high-speed interferometer uses
The deflectometry test provides high spatial sampling,
a polarization-based multiplexed phase-shifting method to
defined by its image-acquisition camera’s resolution, to meas-
achieve data collection rates of 1 kHz and 2.25 kHz for detect-
ure low-and-mid spatial frequency surface errors with a large
ors with 720 × 720 pixel and a 400 × 400 pixel resolutions,
dynamic range to cover the changing mirror surface shape
respectively. Using instantaneous interferometry, the dynamic
during the iterative manufacturing process [131]. The high
structural responses to stimuli applied at varying locations
dynamic range becomes particularly critical during the optics
were measured, and the transfer function for the hardware
edge figuring process since the surface slopes near the edge of
structure was successfully defined [130].
the mirror are often too large for an interferometric null test.
3.2. Optical form deflectometry

3.2.2. Infrared deflectometry. Visible deflectometry utiliz-
3.2.1. Precision deflectometry. The principle of deflecto- ing display panels can measure surfaces that are reflective at
metry, a reverse Hartmann test, is based on an optical source the visible wavelengths. In other words, if the optical surface is
array and an imaging camera with a pixelated detector array still in its grinding phase in the manufacturing process chain,
to measure local surface slopes across the mirror aperture. the method cannot be applied.
An integration step (e.g. zonal or modal) is then required to An infrared (IR) deflectometry system can produce
reconstruct the surface height information from the slope data. height maps with a much higher spatial resolution than
Deflectometry is a non-null test method that achieves a high other fine-grinding-stage metrology methods while achiev-
dynamic range. ing ∼1 µm-level accuracy, which is sufficient to guide the
A typical precision deflectometry system displays a mod- fine-grinding stage when the optical surface roughness is
ulated pattern on a pixelated flat screen, and the camera <10 µm RMS [132, 133]. In the case of IR deflectometry,
acquires an image of the UUT illuminated by the reflecting a thermal source such as a heated long metal wire emits in
(i.e. deflecting) structured irradiance pattern on the display. the long-wave infrared (e.g. at a 10 µm wavelength). By
16
Figure 27. Sub-aperture deflectometry system measuring a

Figure 26. Four sequential IR deflectometry images captured using high-spatial-resolution local area on the LSST tertiary mirror (M3)
an IR camera during a hot-wire scanning process. Bright areas have right next to the primary mirror (M1) boundary on the monolithic
local slopes that reflect the thermal IR light so that it passes through substrate. Image credit: H Martin.
the camera aperture. Image credit: D Kim.
In the context of advanced precision optics manufactur-

ing using a sub-aperture computer-controlled figuring tool,
knowing the accurate location of the wire, and measuring the
correcting mid-to-high spatial frequency errors is one of the
grinding-phase UUT image with an IR camera while the wire
most important aspects during the computer-controlled optical
is scanning in two orthogonal x and y directions (figure 26),
surfacing process. Sub-aperture deflectometry measures mid-
the surface slope is measured through ray path triangulation
to-high spatial frequencies to the nanometre RMS level of
[18].
accuracy. For the DKIST primary, a deflectometry tool using
The IR deflectometry technique was used during the grind-
an auxiliary lens was able to measure surface irregularities
ing stage of the 4.2 m-diameter Daniel K. Inouye Solar Tele-
from 10 cycles m−1 to 1000 cycles m−1 over a 125 mm
scope (DKIST) primary mirror production, where 25 µm loose
diameter region [134]. It successfully bridged the gap in the
abrasives were used [134]. A sequential IR scanning image of
power spectral density (PSD) data between the interferomet-
the reflected hot wire on the DKIST mirror surface is shown in
ric measurement and the micro-roughness measurement. As
figure 27. The metrology successfully guided the fabrication
shown in figure 28, full coverage of spatial-frequency meas-
from grinding with 25 µm to 12 µm of loose abrasive, which
urements of the DKIST mirror was achieved using mul-
finally resulted in a 1 µm RMS surface before the polishing
tiple metrology solutions, including sub-aperture deflecto-
phase.
metry (a.k.a. SPOTS) [135].
3.2.3. Sub-aperture deflectometry. A slope-measuring 3.2.4. Dynamic deflectometry. Instantaneous deflectometry

test using deflectometry and an additional auxiliary lens technologies have been developed to expand the applic-
allows sub-aperture mid-to-high-spatial frequency errors to be ation range of metrology cases that deflectometry sys-
measured. The concept of sub-aperture deflectometry is very tems cover. Instantaneous systems often adopt the sinus-
similar to that of regular deflectometry, which is a reverse oidal phase-shifting technique, but multiplex all the required
Hartmann test using a pixelated display screen and an ima- information in a single pattern, which allows a full deflec-
ging camera. However, the sub-aperture deflectometry system tometry measurement to be made with a single exposure
utilizes an auxiliary lens placed close to the UUT to change the of the camera. One approach, creating a single-shot deflec-
ray paths and allow a wider range of local (i.e. sub-aperture) tometry measurement, uses Fourier transform profilometry,
surface curvatures to be measured. In this configuration, a port- which extracts all the data from a single monochromatic fringe
able deflectometry system measures convex, flat, and concave pattern [136]. Another method utilizes color multiplexing
parts at a very high spatial resolution with the use of an aux- to create two fringe patterns, achieving lower measurement
iliary lens. This technology is used for various high-quality errors [137].
optics manufacturing projects, including the 8.4 m LSST mir- Thus, this solution enables dynamic metrology for a con-
ror as shown in figure 27 [119]. tinuously moving surface measurement. Applications of this
17
3.2.5. Outlook for deflectometry. The four distinct and

complementary deflectometry solutions (sections 3.2.1–3.2.4)
have their unique advantages and limitations. For instance,
standard-precision deflectometry works very well for concave
UUT applications, but only for specular surfaces. Infrared
deflectometry provides a powerful solution for a ground (i.e.
scattering) UUT case, but is less accurate than standard deflec-
tometry. Sub-aperture deflectometry enables higher spatial
resolution and sampling of the UUT surface but requires a
more complex system configuration including an auxiliary
Figure 28. Combined PSD plots from four DKIST measurement
lens. Dynamic deflectometry technology provides excellent
systems, visible deflectometry (software configurable optical test temporal resolution for measuring a moving UUT at the cost
system (SCOTS)), CGH-based interferometry, sub-aperture of lower spatial resolution. There is, as always, no single met-
deflectometry (slope-measuring portable optical test system rology solution to all problems. However, there might be an
(SPOTS)), and the micro-finish topographer (MFT), along with the optimal solution for a given problem.
computed PSD specification for the DKIST mirror. Image credit:
D Kim. There are promising deflectometry parameters and design
spaces to be explored, which may improve the measurement
performance of advanced deflectometry solutions, such as
utilizing a higher resolution/contrast display (e.g. OLED),
implementing a time-modulating electro-optic infrared source,
and/or installing multiple cameras for simultaneous image
acquisition and systematic error calibration.
4. Optical microscopy and scatterometry
4.1. Optical microscopy
4.1.1. Scanning white-light interferometry (SWLI). Laser

interferometry has unique advantages of high measurement
accuracy and a long measuring range, while suffering from
phase ambiguity when surface discontinuity exceeds one
quarter of the wavelength of light. This issue can be addressed
by using multiple synthetic wavelengths, which can increase
the range of phase ambiguity, although this approach unavoid-
ably sacrifices measurement accuracy. On the other hand,
SWLI, which employs a short coherence-length white-light
Figure 29. Instantaneous deflectometry pattern and its source, is a measurement technique that does not suffer from
data-processing flowchart for multiplexing three color channels in the phase ambiguity problem. Vertical scanning is required for
the Fourier domain. This approach enables dynamic metrology profile sectioning by searching for the peak position, where the
using a single-shot data acquisition. Image credit: I Trumper. measurement arm has a zero OPD with respect to the reference
arm. White-light interferometry (WLI), proposed in the early
system range from the measurement of a small deformable nineteenth century, is not a newly developed technique for
mirror to the bending modes of a large optical surface with precision measurement. Back in 1893, Michelson used white
active supporting actuators. For instance, color multiplex- light to estimate the size of a series of step-shaped etalons.
ing with Fourier domain filtering also enables instantaneous This was done as part of the procedure leading to the first
phase-shifting deflectometry. The multiplexing scheme and comparison of light wavelengths with an international proto-
data processing flowchart are shown in figure 29. This techno- type meter [138]. Subsequently, the original Mirau interfero-
logy was applied to the characterization of a deformable mir- meter with a common optical path design was developed and
ror, and demonstrated a high accuracy at the ∼ 25 nm RMS filed as a patented apparatus for measuring OPD using inter-
level, matching an interferometric cross-check measurement ference to characterize a surface finish [139]. As shown in
result [20]. appendix A, various Mirau-related systems and methods have
With the capability of instantaneous measurement, the been further developed and patented to meet diverse demands
dynamics of actively controlled precision surfaces are meas- for better interferometric optical design, vibration-resistant
urable and the surfaces are manufacturable. Also, the large optical design and algorithms, thickness measuring methods,
dynamic range advantage of deflectometry is still valid for the and dynamic measuring methods and strategies. WLI micro-
instantaneous case, therefore optical testing of a time-varying scopes [140–145] have been widely used for measuring film
large-deviation surface is also possible. thickness and monitoring surfaces with discontinuities of
18
Figure 31. Examples of light spectra and the corresponding

interferograms: (a) spectrum of a blue LED and (b) interferogram
formed by a blue LED; (c) spectrum of a white-light LED; and (d)
Figure 30. Classic white-light Mirau interferometric system [148]. interferogram formed by WLI (tested sample: flat mirror,
magnification of Mirau objective: 20×, NA: 0.4).
more than several wavelengths. In contrast to laser phase-

shifting interferometry (PSI) employing a light source with where I r is the intensity of the reference
√ √ light, I o is the intensity
a long coherence length, WLI uses a broadband light source of the object light, and γ = Ir Io / Ir Io (Ir + Io ) − (Ir + Io )
with a short coherence length of approximately 1 µm [146]. and ϕ are the modulation and phase components of the inter-
Therefore, the interference pattern acquired by WLI is a super- ference fringe, respectively.
position of the interference patterns of many wavelength com- Figure 31 shows interferograms formed by a quasi-
ponents. While PSI uses a monochromatic light source (e.g. monochromatic light source and a broadband light source.
laser light) or a quasi-monochromatic light source (e.g. a Figure 31(a) shows the spectrum of a blue LED with a full
single-color LED), WLI employs a light source with a broad width at half maximum (FWHM) of 10 nm, and figure 31(b)
visible spectrum ranging from 400 nm to 700 nm [144]. A is the corresponding interferogram. Figure 31(c) shows the
broadband light source has a shorter coherence length than spectrum of a ‘cool’ white-light LED, and figure 31(d) is
a monochromatic light source and produces an interferogram the corresponding interferogram. A difference in the coher-
with OPD-modulated contrast. encies of these two cases can be observed, as shown in
The fundamentals of SWLI are introduced in section 4.1.2, figures 31(b) and (d).
followed by the technological advances in in-situ SWLI with Fringe modulation in WLI is generated by the superposi-
a literature review of various types of microscopic white-light tion of waves from a broadband light source producing dif-
interferometric profilometry and related references discussing ferent wavelengths. The peak of fringe modulation is the
vibration-resistant SWLI (section 4.1.3). Future development position where all constituent wavelengths have the same
trends and challenges are also summarized in section 4.1.4. phase; namely, the position corresponds to the surface depth
where the OPD between the object light and the reference
light becomes zero. Hence, as opposed to laser interferometry
4.1.2. Fundamentals of SWLI. Figure 30 shows a schem- that utilizes phase information to determine surface depth,
atic of a conventional white-light Mirau interferometric sys- WLI uses the maximum position of interferometric fringe
tem. As can be seen in the figure, it consists of a broadband modulation for surface reconstruction. In SWLI, vertical-
light source, a Mirau interferometric objective, a piezoelectric scanning interferometry (VSI) captures interferograms at dif-
translator (PZT) scanning device for vertical scanning, and a ferent heights. For this purpose, vertical scanning is performed
photonic imaging unit for capturing the white-light interfero- at a distance of less than a quarter of the central wavelength
gram. The Mirau interferometric objective splits the light into of the light source. In contrast with PSI measurement, where
two different paths, one for the reference mirror and the other the phase is resolved, SWLI calculates the peak of interfero-
for the surface to be measured [138, 147–149]. Then, the light gram contrast modulation. VSI involves sampling the inter-
from the two split paths reflected by the surfaces is recom- ferogram at different heights with a constant interval, recon-
bined to form interferograms that can be modeled using the structing the interferogram signal, and calculating the peak of
following equation: the contrast modulation envelope. In WLI measurement, inter-
∑ ferogram contrast and the width of the contrast modulation
It = (Ir (λ) + Io (λ)) (1 + γ cos ϕ) (6) are the two main factors that determine measurement
λ accuracy.
19
The accuracy of microstructure measurement using SWLI 4.1.3. Technical advancements for in-situ SWLI. Three key
is affected by several types of inherent errors such as batwing factors can be identified for the successful application of
effects, ghost steps, field- and tilt-dependent dispersion and SWLI in manufacturing, especially for in-situ AOI; improve-
variances of surface optical properties. Leach summarized ment of lateral resolution, adaptability to various surface
the sources of errors in CSI [150]. The batwing effect is a light variances, and environmental-vibration-resistant capab-
well-known example that can be observed around a step dis- ility. Because of their significant effects on the measurement
continuity, especially for the case of measuring a step height accuracy and precision of SWLI, these factors have been ana-
less than the coherence length of a light source [151, 152]. lyzed and studied by many researchers, and significant tech-
The occurrence of the batwing effect shows a significant cor- nological advancements have been made to improve the per-
relation with the measurement parameters of SWLI; in gen- formance of in-situ SWLI.
eral, the shorter the wavelength, the narrower the batwing
size. The batwing effect diminishes when the measurement 4.1.3.1. Improvement of measurement resolution. With
depth exceeds 1 µm. Wyant first proposed a method com- microstructures further reduced in size to meet the increasing
bining phase-shifting and coherence-peak-sensing techniques packaging density of electronic or mechatronic products, the
to break the interval-slope limitation of λ/4 and to avoid the measurement resolution of SWLI becomes extremely crucial.
batwing problem [153]. de Groot further developed a strategy Kino and Chim [160, 161] first tried to resolve aberration
by analyzing the difference between the coherence scanning problems in the Mirau interferometer caused by the uneven
interferogram and the phase profile [154]. Meanwhile, another thickness of the beam splitter. The beam splitter in the Mirau
common error, the so-called ghost step, is regarded as a mis- designs was replaced by an 800 Å-thick silicon nitride film
classification of the fringe order attributed to dispersion. This with a uniformity of 10 Å [162]. The advantage of the correl-
usually occurs at high spatial frequencies where multiple scat- ation microscope lies in enabling phase measurement [163]
tering exists. This kind of error was reported in the measure- to achieve a higher measurement accuracy of up to 5 nm
ment of flat objects using SWLI [152, 155]. An algorithm using an objective with NA = 0.8. To achieve higher res-
was therefore proposed that combines the phase information olution in both the lateral and vertical directions, ultraviolet
and the envelope-calculation method [156] to eliminate the light was employed to enhance the optical diffraction limit.
ghost steps. Olszak [157] further presented a method meas- An optical element inside the interferometer was redesigned to
uring OPD changes from the collected interference fringes. work in the ultraviolet (UV) and deep-UV ranges [164–166].
The method was found to be effective in correcting the influ- The key element in the design is the use of nitrogen-rich
ences of scanning errors and slowly-varying vibrations. Sim- SiN membranes that are mechanically tough and UV trans-
ilarly, a dispersive effect associated with ghost steps can make parent past the 248 nm mercury line, making them best suited
CSI sensitive to surface gradients. Tilt-dependent dispersion, for a UV Mirau interferometer. The interferometry attach-
presented by Lehmann [151] in 2006, is often the cause of 2π ment that was developed was fixed to a microscope object-
errors in CSI measurements, even when the tilt is small com- ive with an NA = 0.9, with which the accuracy of SWLI
pared with the numerical aperture (NA) of a Mirau object- can reach 104 nm. To further enhance the lateral measure-
ive. This kind of error depends on the position of an object ment resolution, a Mirau-type interferometer with a confocal
in the field of view and affects the occurrence of batwing. slit in the illumination path was developed by combining con-
Leach [152, 155] also indicated that systematic errors exist focal microscopy and WLI [167]. When measuring a stand-
when the surface gradient is considerably smaller than the ard target with a pitch of 1.2 µm and a height of 190 nm
acceptance angle of the objective and the mean wavelength using the proposed slit integration, the measurement error
of the white light source. In contrast to regular batwing errors, attributed to the batwing effect can be avoided and the step
the presence of these phase jumps is systematically position- height can be measured and reconstructed more accurately.
dependent and generally increases in severity toward the edge Another technique proposed by Lyulko et al [168] for increas-
of the field of view. This effect also depends strongly on the ing the lateral resolution of the Mirau interferometer involved
polarity of the discontinuity, and the dispersive batwing effect developing an immersion Mirau interferometer to increase the
causes errors in step height measurement. To overcome these NA. Moreover, simultaneous immersion Mirau interferometry
major errors, a dual-wavelength CSI microscope using two (SIMI), which facilitates the simultaneous acquisition of all
LEDs [158] was developed to obtain an accurate surface depth interferograms and eliminates the effects of vibration, was
at the position where ghost steps appeared or surface discon- developed to achieve 3D one-shot imaging with improved
tinuities such as step heights occurred. Apart from these com- lateral resolution [169]. Polarization Mirau interferometry
mon errors, the optical properties of the surface to be meas- makes it possible to image live cells in a medium without
ured are another important uncertainty source in SWLI. This coverslips. To further enhance the lateral resolution to less
type of error commonly occurs when the measured surface is than 100 nm (the definition of nanoscopy), many attempts to
made of materials exhibiting different phase changes on reflec- achieve optical SR have been made in the last two decades
tion or multi-reflection issues [159]. Continuous efforts have [26, 170–182].
been made to minimize these potential errors in SWLI so that In addition to the existing methods illustrated in figure 32,
the measurement performance can be enhanced to satisfy even some unconventional sub-diffraction-limit imaging methods
higher manufacturing demands. have been developed to improve the resolution from the
20
Figure 32. Existing technologies for resolution enhancement: far and near fields.
microscale to the nanoscale. Fluorescence-based methods, field, induced by the super-resonance effect (SRE), can be
such as stimulated emission depletion (STED), stochastic picked up and transformed into propagating waves in the far
optical reconstruction (STORM), photoactivated localization field, so that an FWHM spot of up to 0.22λ can be generated.
(PALM), acoustic micro imaging (AMI), reversible satur- Although some breakthroughs have been achieved in near-
able optical fluorescence transitions (RESOLFT) and ground field imaging, these developments nonetheless require that the
state depletion (GSD), have greatly enhanced the resolution objective must be located within an air- or liquid-filled gap of
to a scale of fewtenths of a nanometre [26, 172–174, 183– 100–200 nm from the tested surface. Such a working distance
185]. Model-based reconstruction methods have also been is too short and may not be feasible for many applications,
developed and their feasibility has been demonstrated [183, especially for in-situ manufacturing scenarios. The advantages
184]. However, the development of far-field non-fluorescence of these methods are the achievement of full-field, label-free,
imaging microscopy has faced a problem with restricted dif- contactless and non-destructive imaging for AOI. Apart from
fraction limits and still requires technological breakthroughs. SWLI, this imaging principle has extensive applications, such
Near-field imaging methods, including near scanning optical as confocal microscopy, endoscopy and differential interfer-
microscopy (SNOM), superlenses, hyperlenses, metamateri- ometric contrast (DIC). However, the technical breakthrough
als, and microsphere-assisted microscopy have shown effect- for adaptation to in-situ AOI will involve resolving the short
iveness in achieving nanoscale resolution [177–179, 185– working distance of the objective, since far-field imaging is
189]. A time-efficient 3D SR microscopy method involving definitely essential.
near-field-assisted WLI was proposed using the near-field ima-
ging concept to achieve lateral near-field imaging through a
microspherical superlens [186, 190]. Another microspherical 4.1.3.2. Surface light variances. The accuracy of surface-
superlens was proved to be effective in transforming near- profile reconstruction is determined by the contrast of the
field evanescent waves into far-field transmitting waves with interferogram and the coherence length of the light source.
an imaging lateral resolution of 50 nm and a vertical resol- A difference in intensity between the reference arm and the
ution of 10 nm [191]. Microsphere-assisted WLI microscopy object arm is one of the major limitations of SWLI. This lim-
makes it possible to reach a lateral resolution of a few hundreds itation makes it difficult to measure objects with low sur-
of nm [188]. In addition to the microsphere-assisted principle, face reflectivities such as biological samples or highly scat-
nanoparticle-based metamaterial imaging is also an import- tering surfaces, in which the light reflected from the object
ant emerging method for achieving SR [189]. A propagating is much weaker than that reflected from the reference mir-
incident wave can be scattered by a layer of densely packed ror [159]. In the literature, the concept of polarization-based
dielectric nanoparticles with a diameter of 15 nm as a medium, Mirau interferometry was first introduced by Massig [187]
in which a large nanoscale evanescent-wave illuminating array in 1992, for detecting changes in the distance of a small
15 nm in size can be generated. When a dielectric microsphere reflective measurement surface. Stankewitz then developed
with a diameter range larger than the light wavelength or 1– a variable epi-illumination interference probe, in which the
50 µm is positioned close to an object under test (with an interferometer was equipped with a variable beam split-
air or liquid gap of 100–200 nm), the photons of the near ter with different reflection and transmission ratios [192].
21
Figure 34. Fabrication process of silver NRA and an SEM image of

the silver-coated NRA produced for the reference arm (thickness:
250 nm) [146].
Figure 33. Implementation of a silver NRA in the orthogonal

polarization Mirau interferometer developed in [159].
Similarly, Lyulko modified the conventional Mirau interfer-

ometer into an orthogonal-polarization Mirau interferometer
(OPMI) [168]. The beam splitter in the conventional Mirau
interferometer was replaced by a λ/8 waveplate oriented at
45◦ relative to the orientation of the incident light. To achieve
orthogonally-polarized beams, polarization Mirau interfero-
metry using two quarter-wave plates was proposed by Hari-
Figure 35. Anisotropic thin film designed as a reflective wave plate
haran and Schmit [193, 194] to generate reference and object [159].
light with different polarization states. Using an achromatic
phase shifter, which is also a geometric phase shifter, the sys-
tem enables measurement using white-light PSI. An example In this design, the silver NRA that was developed is part of
of an achromatic phase-shifter configuration is a rotating half- the reference arm and is used as a beam splitter of the Mirau
wave plate mounted in the middle of two quarter-wave plates interferometer. The thicknesses of the silver NRA coating on
with their axes set at 45◦ to the angles of polarization of the the beam splitter and the reference arm are 150 nm and 250 nm,
two beams [195]. respectively. The silver NRAs are coated at different thick-
More recently, another interesting approach proposed by nesses to improve the extinction ratio of the polarization sep-
Chen [159] for balancing the two-arm light difference is a aration. The beam splitter can separate light polarization, and
new type of Mirau interferometer which separates light rays the reference arm is employed to increase the polarization sep-
in the reference and object arm using orthogonal polariza- aration of the light. Figure 34 shows a scanning electron micro-
tion. Figure 33 presents a schematic of the proposed design scope (SEM) image of the silver NRA coating used in the ref-
of the Mirau interferometric objective [146, 159]. The design erence arm of the interferometer [146, 159]. Figure 35 shows
involves polarization separation using an optical thin-film the anisotropic thin film developed as the reflective wave plate
coating, with so-called silver nanorod arrays (NRA) and a [146, 159]. Using electron beam evaporation, a silver mirror
reflective wave plate. Incident white light is controlled to is deposited between two anisotropic Ta2 O5 thin films grown
become linearly polarized at 45◦ so that the polarization com- on an NBK-7 substrate with an oblique angle deposition. The
ponents of the light have equal intensities. Following this, the three principal refractive indices (n1 , n2 , n3 ) and the tilt angle
light passes through a beam splitter and is separated into two of the columns, β, of the Ta2 O5 thin film were derived by fit-
components, one reflected toward the reference mirror and the ting the angular spectrum to be (n1 , n2 , n3 ) = (1.792, 1.653,
other transmitted toward the tested object. The beam splitter 1.764) and β = 31◦ . The thin film with a thickness of 1542 nm
is designed to pass S-polarization and to reflect P-polarization. serves as a reflective half waveplate configured as NBK-7
The reference mirror is designed to reflect P-polarization while glass/film/silver. Figure 36 compares the 3D reconstructed
suppressing the reflectance of light with S-polarization. This results of printed circuit board (PCB) bumps obtained by
design results in different polarization states of the object conventional WLI and the OPMI. As can be seen, the OPMI
beam and the reference beam. can obtain a higher S/N ratio result in its 3D reconstruction.
22
Figure 36. 3D map and cross-sectional profile of a printed circuit board (PCB) bump measured using (a) an OPMI and (b) conventional
WLI [159].
Apart from the issue of light imbalance mentioned above, using multi-sensors, a frequency shifter, or an acousto-optic
measuring an optically rough surface using WLI does not modulator (AOM) for accurate detection of vibration-induced
guarantee the resolution of the lateral structure of the tested shifted error for phase compensation [219–221]. However, the
surface because the height difference of neighbouring pixels frequency-shifting modulation developed is only applicable to
may exceed the phase ambiguity limit of λ/4 [196, 197]. point measurement and not for full-field imaging.
Moreover, because the measurement errors of WLI are lim- To address vibration in SWLI, phase-shifted errors were
ited by a random shift of individual interference patterns, an corrected using a reference interferometer [216, 217], in which
effective strategy was developed to reduce the measurement the nonlinearity of the PZT was corrected to reduce meas-
uncertainty of WLI by sequentially switching the direction of urement uncertainty. Similarly, using wavelength scanning
illumination [198]. In summary, the measurement uncertainty interferometry, another method was developed to compensate
of SWLI becomes extremely crucial as in-situ AOI faces even for environmental noise in vibration detection and compens-
stricter measurement tolerance requirements. The allowable ation [218]. The main limitation faced by these methods is
measurement uncertainty of SWLI is often only a few nano- an insufficient bandwidth for vibration detection and com-
metres at ±3σ with a confidence level of 99.7%. An effective pensation. To resolve this, Chen [143, 219–221] proposed a
reduction of the measurement uncertainty can be achieved by dual-sensing optical configuration (shown in figure 37) to pre-
controlling and manipulating the surface light variances which cisely detect the vibration displacement of the Mirau objective
may occur in SWLI. and developed an active fringe-locking strategy to immobilize
low-coherence interferograms with a high bandwidth capable
4.1.3.3. Vibration-resistant capability. In-situ SWLI faces of suppressing various environmental vibrations with a fre-
many measurement error sources such as environmental quency up to a few hundreds of Hz. The method developed for
ground or mechanical vibrations, acoustic disturbances, and vibration-induced phase correction was proved effective by an
nonlinearity of the PZT used for axial scanning [143]. improvement of more than six times and a response bandwidth
Although the general strategy is to perform SWLI on a up to several 100 Hz can be realized by developing a real-
vibration-isolation table to minimize vibration, there exist time embedded controller. As well as active feedback com-
unavoidable and undesirable vibrations in an uncontrollable pensation in SWLI for vibration minimization, passive vibra-
shop floor situation with air disturbance coming from an air tion compensation in SWLI was also proposed [222, 223].
conditioner and machine acoustic noises as well as human The advantage of these methods is that no additional active
voices. To resolve this critical issue, some in-situ techniques compensation-system hardware is required. The basic prin-
and strategies have been developed, such as active vibra- ciple is to detect the precise position of the interferometer
tion isolation using a fringe locking mechanism, shorten- with respect to the measuring object to compensate for phase
ing measurement time, and performing simultaneous PSI, errors caused by environmental vibrations or scanner nonlin-
[199–215]. Early research was devoted to active feedback earities. Another strategy is to use the shape information of
in laser interferometry, either by using adaptable wavelength tested objects for vibration compensation [223]. However, in
modulation [201, 212–215] or active control of the reference most cases, the shape information cannot be precisely pre-
arm [202–207]. Some strategies using active feedback con- determined. More recently, SWLI with in-situ vibration com-
trol of low coherent phase-shifting were also applied to bio- pensation was reported for shop-floor depth measurements in a
medical testing [216–218], with some effectiveness shown deep reactive ion etcher [224]. Vibration-compensated SWLI
in measurement error correction. Meanwhile, phase-shifted has thus been demonstrated to be essential for in-situ AOI and
errors caused by undesirable vibration in PSI were reduced other applications in various fields.
23
Figure 37. Illustration of dual-sensing optical configuration for

SWLI fringe locking.
4.1.4. Future development trends and challenges. A literat-

ure review on the technical advancements in SWLI, a discus-
sion on the three important measurement properties affecting
in-situ SWLI, and analyses of the important developments for
effective solutions have been addressed. From the perspect-
ive of technological breakthroughs, the most critical measure-
ment parameter affecting SWLI is the improvement of lateral Figure 38. Overview of the principle of optical scatterometry.
resolution because the current optical resolution is still restric-
ted to the micrometre or sub-micrometre scale. This is mainly tolerance of a few nanometres at a high confidence level
caused by optical light diffraction limits which restrain the is definitely required for advanced manufacturing processes,
PSF of white light to approximately 1 mm. Most current SR such as semiconductor fabrication. Moreover, vibration-
methods (STED, PALM, STORM) are essentially limited to compensated SWLI has thus been proven essential for in-situ
fluorescence microscopy and specific markers, and therefore, AOI and other applications in various fields.
not commonly applied for general dimensional metrology in
in-situ AOI. With strong advantages in terms of measuring
4.2. Optical scatterometry
speed, in-line capability, freedom from contamination, and
comprehensive theoretical support from Maxwell’s equations, Optical scatterometry is a technique that measures and ana-
model-based simulation methods can play an important role lyzes light diffracted by periodic nanostructures. As illus-
in SWLI metrology for nanoelectronics and other nanotech- trated in figure 38, the implementation of optical scattero-
nologies. SR optical microscopy using metamaterials in SWLI metry involves two main steps [7, 27, 225]. In the first step,
has been proven to enable excellent high-resolution qualitative the optical signature of a nanostructure under test is meas-
imaging in many applications and foster novel in-depth stud- ured by a proper scatterometric setup. Here, the term ‘signa-
ies in fundamental research. Nevertheless, current optical SR ture’ represents the optical response of a sample, which is a
metrology still requires significant effort to ensure high trace- macroscopic reflection of the microscopic structural profile
ability and reliable uncertainty estimation, which merit further and the material properties of the sample. The second step
intensive investigation. involves first parameterizing the profile of the nanostructure
In addition, the effective reduction of measurement uncer- under test according to prior knowledge, then establishing a
tainty can be achieved by controlling and manipulating sur- forward scattering model to relate the profile parameters to the
face light variances which may occur in SWLI. The epi- signature, and finally extracting profile parameters from the
illumination interference design and the polarization-based measured signature by solving an inverse scattering problem.
Mirau interferometric principle have been proven effective In the solution of the inverse problem, the profile parameters
in balancing the difference in light intensity between the that are the inputs of the forward model are constantly adjus-
reference and object arms. Given the significant impact of ted until the simulated signature reaches the best match for the
SWLI measurement uncertainty on in-situ AOI, a measuring measured one.
24
In comparison with image-based metrology tech- it from the 2-θ scatterometer, we call this type of angu-
niques, which normally allow for the direct determination lar scatterometer a scattering-angle-resolved scatterometer
of dimensional information from the best-focus images (The 2-θ scatterometer can be regarded as an incidence-
acquired,measurement in optical scatterometry is not a ‘what angle-resolved scatterometer). To ensure that there is enough
you see is what you get’ (WYSIWYG) (process, but involves scattering information available for accurate profile recon-
the solution of a complicated inverse-scattering problem. Nev- struction of short-pitch structures, light sources with short
ertheless, optical scatterometry is not restricted by the Abbe illumination wavelengths, such as an extreme ultraviolet
diffraction limit that is encountered in image-based metro- (EUV) light source [236–239] or an x-ray light source
logy techniques. Due to its high-throughput, non-destructive, [240–243], can be employed in scattering-angle-resolved
and ease of in-line integration merits, optical scatterometry scatterometers.
is widely used in the measurement of CDs and overlays in
semiconductor manufacturing [226–231].
In this section, we will give a brief review of optical scat- 4.2.1.2. Spectroscopic scatterometers. Compared with
terometry, with an emphasis on the two main steps involved in angular scatterometers, as shown in figure 37(c), spectro-
its implementation. scopic scatterometers usually adopt broadband light sources.
Similar to the 2-θ scatterometer, most of the spectroscopic
scatterometers collect the reflected (or transmitted) zeroth-
4.2.1. Scatterometric setups. Considering a periodic struc-
order diffracted beam. Also, according to equation (7), the
ture such as a grating, its optical response is governed by the
structure will separate white light from the broadband light
well-known grating equation:
source into a spectrum with different propagating directions at
λ higher diffraction orders. However, all wavelengths from the
sin θi + sin θm = m , (7)
Λ white light propagate in the same direction at the zeroth-order
diffraction, which thus facilitates signal detection. A spectro-
where θi is the incidence angle, θm is the scattering (diffrac-
graph is usually required in the spectroscopic scatterometer to
tion) angle associated with the m-th diffraction order (m = 0,
acquire spectral information from the zeroth-order diffracted
±1, ±2, …), λ is the wavelength of the incident light, and Λ
beam.
is the period (pitch) of the structure. There are many different
The ellipsometric scatterometer is a typical type of spectro-
types of scatterometric setups that can be used to collect the
scopic scatterometer,as shown in figure 39(d), which applies
diffraction information of the structure under test. As shown in
spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) to the measurement of peri-
figure 39, these scatterometric setups, according to the incid-
odic nanostructures. Ellipsometry is an optical measurement
ence angle θi , the scattering angle θm , and the wavelength of
technique that characterizes thin films (by, for example, film
incident light λ, can be basically categorized into the angular
thickness and optical constants) based on the change in polar-
scatterometer and the spectroscopic scatterometer [7, 27, 225].
ized light before and after the light is reflected (or transmit-
ted) by a sample [244, 245]. Around the year 2000 [246, 247],
4.2.1.1. Angular scatterometers. The 2-θ scatterometer is a ellipsometry was introduced to the measurement of CDs of
typical angular scatterometer which was proposed by McNeil grating structures. As shown in figure 39(d), a polarization
and Naqvi et al for the measurement of short-pitch structures state generator (PSG) and a polarization state analyzer (PSA)
[232, 233]. In the 2-θ scatterometer, as shown in figure 39(a), are usually mounted in the light input and output paths of an
a monochromatic light source, such as a He-Ne laser source ellipsometric scatterometer, respectively. The PSG and PSA
(λ = 632.8 nm), is incident upon a structure under test with are both comprised of polarization components, such as polar-
an incidence angle of θi , and the reflectance or transmit- izers and retarders, which are respectively used to modulate
tance are acquired by scanning the incidence and the corres- and demodulate the polarization states of reflected (or trans-
ponding zeroth-order diffraction angles. There are two main mitted) light beams.
reasons for onlycollecting the zeroth-order diffracted beam The conventional spectroscopic ellipsometer typically
(m = 0 in equation (7). First, the zeroth-order diffracted measures two ellipsometric angles, Ψ (the amplitude ratio) and
beam usually has a larger intensity than higher-order diffrac- ∆ (the phase difference), and is most suitable for characteriz-
ted beams, which thus provides a higher signal-to-noise ratio ing isotropic samples. For anisotropic samples and/or if the
in the measurement. Second, the zeroth-order diffracted beam measurement process contains depolarization, it is necessary
always exists, irrespective of the ratio of λ/Λ and θi accord- to use Mueller matrix ellipsometry (MME), which provides
ing to equation (7). A variant of the 2-θ scatterometer is the up to 16 elements of a 4 × 4 Mueller matrix. Due to the rich
so-called optical Fourier transform scatterometer [234, 235], information contained in the Mueller matrix, Mueller matrix
which employs a high NA objective to measure the reflectance ellipsometric scatterometry (also known as MME-based scat-
for all incident angles simultaneously without any mechanical terometry or Mueller matrix scatterometry) has demonstrated
movement. great potential for the accurate measurement of CDs and over-
In another type of angular scatterometer, shown in lays in semiconductor manufacturing [248–254].
figure 39(b), the detector is scanned or an area array detector Table 5 presents an overview of scatterometry tech-
(e.g. a CCD camera) is used to record the intensities asso- niques. Although we categorize the scatterometry techniques
ciated with different scattering angles θm . To distinguish into angular scatterometry and spectroscopic scatterometry,
25
Figure 39. Schematic of different scatterometric setups. (a) and (b) Angular scatterometers; (c) and (d) Spectroscopic scatterometers.
it should be noted that actual scatterometry is commonly

a combination of different scatterometry techniques. For
example, a tunable light source and a polarizer are often used
in a practical 2-θ scatterometer to improve measurement sens-
itivity. For scattering-angle-resolved scatterometry and spec-
troscopic scatterometry, the incidence angle is not always
fixed but can be operationally adjusted for better measurement
sensitivity and parameter decorrelation.
4.2.2. Model-based data analysis. The model-based data

analysis procedure involves parameterizing the structural pro-
file of a sample under test, establishing a forward scattering
model, and solving an inverse-scattering problem to extract Figure 40. Parameterization of the structural profile of a 1D
profile parameters from the measured signature. Although periodic structure. The dotted rectangle shows a periodic unit of the
both the structural profile and the material properties of a structure.
sample influence its optical signature, the material proper-
ties (optical constants) are usually pre-determined to address
the parameter correlation issue in model-based data analysis. respect to the origin of the coordinate, respectively. Specific-
We will not review the determination of the optical constants ally, for a trapezoidal profile as shown on the top left corner of
of materials here, but recommend that the reader consults figure 40, we have w = f (z) = 2z cot α + w0 and δ = g(z) = 0
related references about SE [244, 245]. Next, we will briefly (z∈[0,h]). So, the trapezoidal profile can be characterized by
review the three aspects involved in model-based data analysis, three parameters: a top CD w0 , a sidewall angle α, and a height
namely structural profile parameterization, forward modeling, h. However, for a more complex profile, more complex para-
and inverse-problem solving. metric equations need to be adopted. For example, Huang and
Terry Jr. used quadratic polynomials to characterize the line
shapes of photoresist gratings [255]. Chen et al also used quad-
4.2.2.1. Structural profile parameterization. The aim of ratic polynomials to characterize the asymmetric profiles of
structural profile parameterization is to find a group of para- nanoimprinted patterns [256].
meters that can characterize the profile of a structure under test. Besides polynomial parametric equations, Bézier curves
We exemplify structural profile parameterizationusing a one- and B-splines can also be used for structural profile para-
dimensional (1D) periodic structure. As shown in figure 40, meterization. Wurm et al used a Bézier-curve-based geo-
the dotted rectangle shows a periodic unit of a 1D periodic metry model to characterize the profiles of Si gratings
structure. In general, the structural profile parameterization [257]. As opposed to polynomial parametric equations, the
for this structure is to find parametric equations w = f (z) and Bézier-curve-based or B-spline-based models characterize
δ = g(z) (z∈[0,h]), which describe the width at z and the structural profiles by adjusting the coordinates of control
corresponding offset of the middle point of the width with points [258].
26
Table 5. Overview of scatterometry techniques.
Technique Pros Cons
Angular scat- • Since a single wavelength is used, no • Contain moving components for
terometry assumption about dielectric functions 2-θ scatterometry as well as some
of the sample materials is required for scattering-angle-resolved scattero-
data analysis metry techniques using goniometers,
• Structural pitch can be measured which limit the measurement speed
simultaneously for scattering-angle- • Significant experimental setup
resolved scatterometry required, especially for scattering-
• Relatively easy to extend to short- angle-resolved scatterometry
wavelength ranges, such as EUV and
x-ray
Spectroscopic • Measurement can be very fast, espe- • Need to pre-determine optical con-
scatterometry cially for spectroscopic-reflectometry stants of sample materials in a broad
based scatterometry spectral range
• Very high vertical resolution (sub-nm) • Need achromatic optical components
for ellipsometric scatterometry and detectors with broad spectral
• More measurement information can responsivity
be acquired, especially for MME- • Need delicate calibrations for accur-
based scatterometry, which is bene- ate measurement, especially in ellip-
ficial for parameter decorrelation in sometric scatterometry
data analysis
4.2.2.2. Forward modelling. Many methods have been

developed for modeling light–nanostructure interactions: the
finite-element method [259, 260], the boundary-element
method [261, 262], the finite-difference time-domain method
[263], and the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA, also
known as the Fourier modal method) [264, 265], to name just
a few. All these computational methods start from the basis of
Maxwell’s equations, and the main difference between them
lies in the specific numerical techniques used to solve the gov-
erning equations and boundary conditions. Among these meth-
ods, RCWA is the most commonly used one in optical scattero-
metry, due to its good convergence and relatively easy imple-
mentation in programming languages.
We take the 1D grating as an example to briefly illustrate
the principle of RCWA. For more details, we recommend the
readers to consult [264] as well as other related literature. As
shown in figure 41(a), for a binary rectangular-groove grating,
both the permittivity of the grating region and the electromag-
netic fields are first expanded into Fourier series. The tangen-
tial field components are then matched at the upper and lower
boundaries of the binary grating, and thereby the boundary-
value problem is reduced to an algebraic eigenvalue prob-
lem. Consequently, the reflection coefficient associated with
each diffraction order can be calculated by solving the eigen- Figure 41. (a) Representation of the light incident upon a 1D binary
value problem. According to the reflection coefficients, we can rectangular-groove grating; (b) slicing the profile of a 1D
further calculate the reflectance (transmittance), ellipsometric surface-relief grating into small rectangles.
angles, and Mueller matrices, etc [7].
To apply the calculation to a surface-relief grating with a
more complex profile, as shown in figure 41(b), it is neces-
sary to first slice the structural profile along the z-direction into components are then applied to the upper and lower bound-
multiple-layer small rectangles; each slice is then addressed aries of each slice to connect all the related linear equations.
using the same approach as that described for the binary grat- The reflection coefficients are finally obtained by solving these
ing above, and the continuity conditions of the tangential field linear equations.
27
Kogelnik presented an embryonic form of RCWA in 1969 4.2.2.3. Inverse problem solution. Assume that the struc-
for the calculation of the diffraction efficiencies of thick holo- tural parameters being measured are represented as an M-
gram gratings [266]. Moharam and Gaylord first formulated dimensional vector x = [x1 ,x2 ,…,xM ]T , where the superscript
RCWA for planar gratings [267–269] and then extended it to ‘T’ denotes a matrix (or vector) transpose and xi (i = 1,2,…,N)
surface-relief gratings [270, 271] and 2D gratings [272]. The correspond to the parameters used to describe the paramet-
RCWA method then received extensive attention and research. erized structural profile as illustrated in section 4.2.2.1. The
In the development of the RCWA method, two issues per- measured signature is given by an N-dimensional vector as y
plexed researchers for a long time. One was the slow con- = [y1 ,y2 ,…,yN ]T , where yk (k = 1,2,…,N) can be, in terms of
vergence rate for TM polarization of metallic gratings [271], reflectance (or transmittance), ellipsometric angles, Mueller
and the other was the poor stability of the calculation of deep matrix elements, etc., collected by the above scatterometric
surface-relief or multi-layer gratings [270]. setups at different wavelengths and/or different incident (or
Lalanne [273] and Granet [274] et al found in 1996 that scattering) angles. The corresponding theoretical signature
the convergence rate for metallic gratings in TM polariza- calculated by RCWA for any structural parameter vector x
tion can be dramatically improved by reformulating the eigen- is given by F(x) = [f 1 (x),f 2 (x),…,f N (x)]T . The χ2 function
value problem of the RCWA method. However, the underly- in statistics is usually used to estimate the matching (fitting
ing cause remained unclear to them. Li subsequently found error) between the measured and simulated signatures, which
that the poor convergence for metallic gratings in TM polar- is defined by
ization was caused by an incorrect treatment of permittivity
in the truncated Fourier space, and further presented the Four- ∑
N
2
χ2 = wk [yk − fk (x)] = [y − F(x)]T W[y − F(x)], (8)
ier factorization rules for obtaining faster convergence [275].
k =1
Li’s factorization rules can easily be applied to 1D gratings,
but applying them to 2D gratings is more complicated, since where wk are the weighting factors, which are usually chosen
the decomposition of the electric field into parallel and per- to be the inverse of the variances of the measured signature
pendicular components is less obvious for 2D gratings. σ 2 (yk ) i.e. wk = 1/σ 2 (yk ), and W is an N × N diagonal weight-
To improve the convergence rate for the 2D case, in 1997 ing matrix with the diagonal elements wk . With the above
Lalanne presented a new formulation of the RCWA method by notations, the inverse problem in optical scatterometry can be
introducing a free parameter α to weigh the relative strengths mathematically formulated as a least-squares regression prob-
of the Fourier transformed matrices of the permittivity and lem such that
the inverse of the permittivity [276]. However, it is notice- { }
T
able that the free parameter α can be easily determined for 2D x̂ = arg min [y − F(x)] W[y − F(x)] , (9)
x∈Ω
rectangular gratings, but it is hard to determine for 2D grat-
ings with complex contours. At the same time, Li proposed where x̂ is the expected solution of the inverse problem and Ω
the discretization of the original grating contour by zigzag is the parameter domain.
contours that satisfy Li’s factorization rules [277]. Schuster Many methods can be used for solving equation (9),
et al introduced a normal vector method [278] that fulfills which can overall be categorized into the nonlinear regression
Li’s rules by combining the classical RCWA with Popov method and the library search method [284]. As schematic-
and Nevière’s formulation of the differential method [279]. ally illustrated in figure 42, the nonlinear regression method
However, the normal vector method requires a normal vec- iteratively adjusts the structural parameter vector x using
tor field that relies on structural geometry and does not apply some optimization algorithms [285, 286], such as the Gauss–
to arbitrary structures. Götz et al extended the normal vector Newton algorithm and the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm,
method with automated vector field generation for arbitrary until the simulated signature F(x) best matches the measured
structures [280]. signature y. In the library search method, a library of simulated
The poor stability in the calculation of deep surface- signatures is constructed first, and then the signature library is
relief or multi-layer gratings was due to the accumulation of searched to find a best-match signature for the measured sig-
numerical errors generated in the solution of the eigenvalue nature. The structural parameter vector that corresponds to the
problem associated with each slice or each layer. Moharam best-match simulated signature in both the nonlinear regres-
et al introduced an enhanced transmittance matrix (T-matrix) sion method and the library search method is taken to be the
approach that was shown to produce numerically stable res- solution of the inverse problem.
ults for deep multilevel surface-relief dielectric gratings [265]. Table 6 presents a comparison between the nonlinear
Li systematically presented two recursive and numerically regression method and the library search method. The non-
stable algorithms, the S-matrix algorithm and the R-matrix linear regression method can achieve an accurate solution,
algorithm, for modeling multi-layered diffraction gratings provided that the structural parameter vector x is assigned an
[281]. It was also demonstrated that the S-matrix algorithm is appropriate initial value during the iteration. Since the solution
preferable to the R-matrix algorithm in terms of numerical effi- in the nonlinear regression method is achieved by an iterative
ciency. Tan proposed an enhanced S-matrix algorithm [282] approach and the RCWA calculation needs to be performed
and an enhanced R-matrix algorithm [283] to further improve for each iteration, the nonlinear regression method is typically
the numerical efficiency of the original S-matrix and R-matrix time-consuming, especially for 2D periodic structures. There-
algorithms, respectively. fore, the nonlinear regression method is not suited for inline
28
and x-rays [236–243], and making full use of light polar-

ization [253, 254] to improve measurement sensitivity. Also,
since there is no single technique that can fully fulfill the
measurement requirements (such as resolution, speed, preci-
sion) of a full set of structural parameters of a complex device,
the combination or integration of multiple techniques, also
known as hybrid or combined metrology, is an important trend
that will extend the capability of current techniques [290, 291].
Hybrid metrology is especially useful in parameter decorrela-
tion. In addition to the above trends, advanced data analytics
techniques for optical scatterometry, such as machine learn-
ing and deep learning [292, 293], are also worthy of future
exploration.
5. Optical CT and SR imaging
5.1. Optical coherence tomography (OCT)
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a kind of imaging

technology that acquires 3D information about the internal
Figure 42. Flowchart of the nonlinear regression method and the structure of the sample to be measured [294]. It is employed
library search method. in applications where contactless and non-destructive inspec-
tion of internal structures is required. One of the advantages
of OCT, compared with other technologies such as ultrasonic
applications. In comparison, although the offline construction tomography [295], photoacoustic microscopy [296, 297], and
of a signature library is time-consuming, the library search x-ray computed tomography [298, 299], is a micrometric res-
itself can be done quickly and a global solution is guaranteed olution [300] that can be achieved by relatively inexpensive
[284]. Thus, the library search method is well suited for inline components such as light sources, detectors, and optical ele-
applications. However, the solution accuracy of the library ments. Furthermore, the setup for OCT can be designed at a
search method relies on the structural parameter interval (grid compact size. Nowadays, OCT is often employed in the fields
interval) used in the construction of the signature library. A of biology and pharmacy, especially in ophthalmology and
finer grid interval can achieve a higher solution accuracy but cardiology.
will impose an extra burden on time and space resources to Table 7 shows a brief history of OCT development. As can
generate and store simulated signatures. To increase the solu- be seen from the table, OCT is a relatively new technology
tion accuracy for a given signature library, improved library invented in the 1990s. Nowadays, several types of OCT, which
search methods with interpolation of the signature or of the are classified depending on their detection methods, are avail-
fitting error need to be adopted [287, 288]. able. In this section, the working principle of each of the types
is reviewed.
4.2.3. Future trends. With the development of advanced 5.1.1. Time-domain OCT (TD-OCT). The first OCT to be
photolithography processes and techniques such as multiple- developed was time-domain OCT (TD-OCT) [301, 302]. A
patterning, directed self-assembly, and EUV lithography, basic time-domain OCT configuration is shown in figure 43.
very-large-scale integrated circuits (ICs) have broken through A typical setup for time-domain OCT is composed of a low-
to the 7 nm process and are expected to continue towards coherence light source, a beam splitter, a reference mirror, an
a 1 nm process [289]. To guarantee the performances of IC objective lens, a 2D scanning stage (lateral stage), a 1D scan-
devices with ever-decreasing feature sizes, logic devices have ning stage (axial stage) and a point detector. The reference mir-
transitted from scaling-driven planar devices (e.g. comple- ror is mounted on the axial stage so that the OPD between the
mentary metal-oxide semiconductors) to 3D transistor archi- two reflected light beams can be changed to generate intens-
tectures (e.g. fin field-effect transistors). Meanwhile, memory ity modulation in the interference signal that is detected by the
devices have also transitted from NAND floating gates to point detector. The interference light intensity reaches its max-
3D multi-layer stacked NAND architectures. State-of-the-art imum value when the OPD is zero, since a low-coherence light
optical scatterometry at the near-atomic scale faces severe source is employed in the setup. The refractive index distribu-
challenges of insufficient sensitivity and terrible parameter tion in the specimen along the axial direction can be measured
correlation [290, 291]. by scanning the specimen in the axial direction while monit-
In response to these challenges, future trends for oring the light intensity with the point detector. To obtain a 3D
optical scatterometry include the extension of illumination image of the refractive index distribution of the specimen, it is
wavelengths to short or ultra-short ranges, such as EUV necessary to scan the lateral stage in the X and Y directions.
29
Table 6. Overview of the inverse problem solving methods.
Method Pros Cons
Nonlinear • Flexible • Apt to fall into local minima

regression • Can achieve a highly accurate solu- • Time-consuming, especially for 2D
tion when assigned an appropriate periodic structures
initial value
Library search • Well suited for inline applications • Need to construct a signature library
• Can guarantee a global solution prior to measurement
• Need interpolation to achieve a more
accurate solution
Table 7. A brief history of OCT development.
Year Type Reference
1990, 1991 Time-domain OCT [301, 302]

1994 Spectral-domain OCT [303]
1998 Full-field OCT [304]
2003 Swept-source OCT [305]
2006 Full-field swept-source OCT [306]
The advantage of time-domain OCT is that the setup can be

constructed using relatively inexpensive components.
5.1.2. Frequency-domain OCT (FD-OCT). Following the

initial invention of time-domain OCT, spectral-domain OCT
(SD-OCT) was developed. This differs from conventional
time-domain OCT that uses a point detector; for SD-OCT,
broadband interference is acquired using a spectrometer,
therefore spectral-domain OCT is categorized as Fourier-
domain OCT (FD-OCT) [303]. Spectral-domain OCT can
obtain the OPD between two light beams by an inverse Fourier
transform of the obtained spectrum. Since axial scanning of
a reference mirror is not required, spectral-domain OCT can
achieve a higher measurement throughput than conventional
time-domain OCT.
Swept-source OCT (SS-OCT) is another kind of frequency-
domain OCT with a frequency-tunable light source [305]. The
spectrum of an interference signal can be detected by sweeping
the wavelength of the light source. Typically, the light source
employed in swept-source OCT is a semiconductor laser.
Since the resolution is determined by the swept wavelength
bandwidth due to the characteristic of the inverse Fourier
transform, light sources with a swept bandwidth exceeding
100 nm have been employed in recent years [307–309]. A
swept light source composed of a femtosecond laser and a dis- Figure 43. A schematic of time-domain OCT.
persive fiber has demonstrated a higher scanning speed [310].
an imaging lens and a 2D detector. Since scanless imaging is
5.1.3. Full-field OCT. Full-field OCT (FF-OCT) realizes possible, high-speed measurement can be realized. This tech-
OCT without the XY-scanning [304]. A typical configuration nique can be applied to time-domain OCT and swept-source
of full-field OCT is shown in figure 44. A Linnik configura- OCT; however, it cannot be applied to spectral-domain OCT
tion is used, with a pair of objective lenses inserted in both that requires a 1D image as spectral information. OCT without
the reference and measurement arms, and the point detector mechanical scanning has been achieved by applying this con-
in the conventional setup shown in figure 43 is replaced with figuration to swept-source OCT [306].
30
Figure 46. Typical modes of a near-field super-resolution system:

(a) transmission collection mode; (b) vertical reflection
collection/illumination mode; (c) internal reflection collection mode.
Figure 44. A schematic of full-field-OCT.
Figure 47. Pupil-filtering for super-resolution imaging: (a) annular

illumination [347]; (b) an example of a confocal setup with a pupil
Figure 45. Schematic diagram of the near-field optical system filter [349]. (a) copyright (2015), with permission from Elsevier; (b)
[333]. CC BY 4.0.
5.1.4. Industrial applications of OCT. Although OCT was fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) is another example where non-
developed for biological imaging, several proposals and destructive inspection is required. Carbon-fiber-reinforced
examples of industrial applications have been reported so far. plastics (CFRP) are a kind of FRP that is widely employed
The following is an overview of the relevant papers. in industrial products such as aircraft, automobiles and ships
Non-destructive inspection technology is useful for post- due to their low weight and high strength. However, wrinkle
process QC in production manufacturing. One of the most defects caused by high shear deformation can reduce the com-
common examples is the defect inspection of laminated struc- pressive strength of CFRP [312]. Several trials have therefore
tures such as color filters and polarizers in the liquid crys- been made to apply spectral-domain OCT to the defect inspec-
tal display (LCD) industry [311], where defects in a product tion of FRPs [313, 314].
can be stochastically generated during the manufacturing pro- The compact setup of optical-coherence tomography
cess. Kim et al proposed an inspection method using spectral- enables it to be applied for on-machine measurement. Holder
domain OCT, and demonstrated its effectiveness for the fast et al demonstrated the on-machine measurement of fiber ori-
evaluation of a large LCD [311]. Inspection of defects in entation in laser-ablated CFRP [315]. OCT can also be applied
31
Table 8. Overview of OCT techniques.
Time-domain • Obtains depth information from axial scanning

OCT • Intuitive interpretation of changes in the index
• Relatively inexpensive
• A typical axial resolution is several mm
• Measurement speed at each point is low, due to axial scanning (typically kHz)
∗
Lateral scanning is required
Spectral-domain • Obtains depth information from a Fourier transform of the spectra obtained by
OCT a spectrometer
• Axial scanning is not required
• A typical axial resolution is several mm
• Measurement speed at each point is low due to the frame rate of the sensor in
the spectrometer (typically kHz or lower)
• Measurement apparatus is relatively large
∗
Lateral scanning is required
Swept-source • Obtains depth information from a Fourier transform of the spectra obtained by
OCT a swept source
• Extremely high-speed measurement (typically MHz)
• Axial scanning is not required
• A typical axial resolution is 10 mm
• Lateral scanning is required
Full-field OCT • Obtains depth information and 2D images from 2D detectors (Measurement
speed of several tens of Hz)
• OCT with no mechanical scanning is available in combination with swept
sources
• Axial resolution depends on the combined OCT type
• Relatively expensive
semiconductor manufacturing, due to their high resistance to

heat and chemical substances. Meanwhile, the strength and
the product life of these components are strongly affected
by the existence of internal defects. Considerable effort has
thus been made to develop non-destructive inspection tech-
niques for defect inspection of such ceramic components. For
example, Reintjes et al investigated the subsurface defects
of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) using time-domain OCT
[318–320]. However, the strong scattering characteristics of
ceramic materials make it difficult to carry out defect inspec-
Figure 48. Principle of SIM. Reproduced from [356]. CC BY 4.0. tion based on OCT in the visible and near-infrared wavelength
regions. Currently, most of the non-destructive inspection
to the inspection of products fabricated by additive manufac- techniques for ceramic components are therefore based on
turing, which is a new technology attracting attention in many ultrasonic inspection [321]; this inspection requires a measur-
industrial fields. In recent years, additive manufacturing has ing probe to come into contact with an object to be measured,
been widely applied to various materials such as resin [316] while the signals obtained by these methods are noisy and have
and metals [317]. In additive manufacturing, the stack height a relatively low resolution. The application of a mid-infrared
at each point can deviate due to nonuniformity in laser irra- laser, whose development has been accelerated in recent years
diation conditions during the process. DePond et al demon- [322–324], is expected to address the aforementioned issues in
strated on-machine precision measurement based onspectral- the defect inspection of ceramic components, and to realize the
domain OCT during laser powder-bed-fusion additive manu- inspection of deeper internal structures. Su et al and Israelsen
facturing [317]. Closed-loop feedback forf the laser melting et al have applied the mid-infrared OCT to the defect inspec-
process has also been realized. tion of components made of alumina and zirconia, materials
Optical coherence tomography can also be applied to the that have a strong scattering effect in the short-wavelength
inspection of components made of various materials. In recent regions [325, 326]. These results have revealed a clear dif-
years, fine ceramic parts have become increasingly important ference between the mid-infrared OCT and the conventional
incutting-edge industrial fields such as micromachining and OCT with a shorter-wavelength light source. A mid-infrared
32
the inspection of micro- or nanostructures in precision engin-

eering and/or the imaging of cell structures in biotechnology.
For the achievement of a resolution beyond the diffraction
limit, To date, much effort has been committed to develop-
ing techniques for SR imaging to achieve resolution beyond
the diffraction limit. As mentioned above, these techniques
can be classified into manufacture oriented and biologically
oriented [327–329] SR techniques, most of which are aimed
at lateral resolution enhancement. Taking the main topic of
this article into consideration, manufacture-oriented SR tech-
niques are reviewed in this section.
The axial size of the PSF, which is approximately 500 nm
in a refractive index-matched medium, is approximately 2–3
times larger than its lateral width for ordinary high NA
objectives. As a typical method, confocal techniques with the
so-called sectioning effect have long been used to improve
the axial resolution. In recent years, a high axial resolution
of approximately 1 nm has been achieved using multiple dif-
ferential confocal technologies [330–332]. Confocal micro-
scopy can be integrated with the lateral SR techniques that are
Figure 49. (a) Concept of the PNJ generation. (b) Schematic of the reviewed below.
NORM nanoscope. (c) A gold-coated fishnet sample in SEM. (d)
Fishnet imaging with a microsphere SR microscope with a
magnification factor of eight. Reprinted from [329], copyright 5.2.1. Near-field SR diffraction. Near-field microscopy was
(2019), with permission from Elsevier.
designed to capture the light propagating from excited fluoro-
phores at a short distance or to detect evanescent light near
fluorophores to achieve a high resolution, since the inform-
laser is expected to be a powerful tool for the non-destructive
ation from high-frequency components can be lost during
inspection of products such as power semiconductors and
the propagation of light diffracted from a small object. A
MEMS, which are gaining importance in the industry. In
schematic of the principle of near-field optical sensing is
table 8, the characteristics of each of the OCT techniques are
shown in figure 45 [333]. When an incident light excites a
summarized.
sample under inspection, high spatial-frequency surface fea-
tures smaller than the wavelength of incident light generate
evanescent waves that can exist within a range of less than one
5.2. Super-resolution (SR) imaging
wavelength. The generated evanescent wave cannot propagate
In a microscope, a lens system generates a magnified image to the far field, but can become a radiated wave when a small-
of an object. Under ideal conditions, without the influence of sized probe is placed into the evanescent field by means of a
aberrations such as spherical aberration and chromatic aber- scattering, refraction or transmission effect, and can be detec-
ration, light rays emanating from a point on an object under ted in the far field [334, 335].
measurement are focused on a point of a finite size in the image Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) has been
plane of the lens system due to the influence of the light dif- developed based on the principle of the non-radiating field-
fraction limit. The light intensity distribution of the image of sensing method. A fiber-based optical probe is often employed
a point in the image plane is referred to as the PSF. The lateral in NSOM due to its ease of use, as well as a high lateral res-
resolution of a microscope can be determined by using the olution of several tens of nm. Three typical setups for NSOM
full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the PSF. If the light are shown in figure 46. As can be seen in the figure, a sample
wavelength and NA of a lens system are denoted by λ and NA, image can be obtained by scanning the tip of a fiber probe
respectively, the FWHM of a lens system can be expressed as over the sample’s surface while illuminating the region under
approximately 0.61λ/NA. Regarding the light intensity distri- inspection [336–339]. With respect to the ordinary transmis-
bution of the image of a point, two neighbouring points at a sion mode and the reflection mode, this third mode is known
distance smaller than the FWHM cannot be resolved. As can as the photon scanning tunnelling microscope (PSTM) [340].
be seen in the definition of an FWHM, a larger NA contrib- A fiber probe scans over the sample to collect evanescent
utes to the obtainment of a higher lateral resolution. With the waves modulated by the total internal reflection surface. Its
employment of an oil-immersion lens with an NA of 1.40, a spatial resolution is mainly affected by the decay length of
resolution of approximately 200 nm can be achieved in the the evanescent field, as well as the shape and size of the
visible light range. Meanwhile, a strong demand exists for an probe’s tip. Due to the nature of the evanescent field, whose
even higher lateral resolution in several applications such as intensity decays exponentially, a sub-wavelength resolution
33
Table 9. Major technologies for manufacturing-oriented super-resolution imaging.
Near-field • Evanescent wave of high-frequency spatial information smaller than the incid-
super-resolution ent wave on the surface is detected.
• Near-field evanescent wave is bridged to far field for detection by inducing a
small probe into the near-field area.
• Tens of nanometre resolution can be achieved.
• Near-field region evanescent wave dependence limits its use to near-surface
features only
Pupil-filtering • Pupil filter for beam shaping enables a main-lobe diameter smaller than the
confocal super- diffraction limit for a lateral super-resolution.
resolution • Confocal approach compensates for the reduced axial resolution by using an
optical-sectioning technique with a pinhole.
• A lateral resolution better than one-third of the incident wavelength can be
achieved. It is difficult to improve it further.
Spatially pat- • Pattern with sub-diffraction-limit features is excited to surface for beating with
terned super- comparable small-scale information.
resolution • Multiple lowered beating frequency images involving the small-scale informa-
tion are then reconstructed for a super-resolution image.
• A resolution better than 100 nm can be achieved; the frequency spectrum of the
excitation pattern affects the super-resolution ability.
• A saturated structured illumination pattern with more frequencies can further
improve the resolution, but the saturation may damage some samples.
Micro-object- • Photonic nanojets (PNJs) with a width of around 0.5 ± 0.2λ are generated by
based super- some micro-objects.
resolution • PNJs enhance visible light backscattering so that smaller features can be
observed in a far field by an ordinary microscope.
• A resolution of between λ/8 and λ/14 at the far field has been achieved.
• Observed results from the microscope need to be further calculated using the
calibrated magnitude of the specific micro-object.
in three dimensions can be achieved. A prototype instrument limits the applications of near-field microscopy. Far-field high-
has achieved lateral and axial resolutions of 200 nm and resolution imaging techniques are thus required in applications
80 nm, respectively, under conditions with a light wavelength where near-field microscopy cannot be applied.
of 633 nm and a probe tip radius of 1 µm. A further study has
demonstrated a lateral resolution of 10 nm with an enhance-
ment to the effective sharpness of the tip [341]. 5.2.2. Pupil-filtering confocal SR imaging. Aiming to
A further improvement of the spatial resolution, down to an improve the lateral resolution of optical imaging, in 1952, di
atomic level, can be realized by the notable probe techniques Francia introduced a method of employing a pupil filter in an
such as the hole-less tetrahedral tip probe, a local magnetic optical imaging system [346]. With the help of an annular illu-
field interferometric aperture-less scanning probe, and so on mination [347] with a pupil filter, as shown in figure 47(a),
[342, 343]. However, due to the rapid decrease in light intens- the diameter of a main lobe can be reduced beyond the dif-
ity with the miniaturization of the fiber probe, the lateral res- fraction limit [348]. Since pupil-filter techniques enable the
olution was limited to several tens of nm. For the evaluation of imaging system to modify the relationship between the amp-
fine semiconductor patterns with a half pitch of 20 nm, a sharp litude and the phase in both the zeroth- and first-order diffrac-
metal probe has been proposed to enhance the optical perform- ted beams, the lateral resolution of an imaging system can be
ance, and a residual layer thickness of 10 nm of nanoimprint improved by optimizing the design parameters of a pupil filter.
lithography has been achieved [344]. It should be noted that a small main lobe can reduce the light
With the rapid development of key technologies in NSOM, intensity, resulting in the degradation of image quality. This
such as probe–sample distance control and the above- issue can be addressed by employing a pinhole in the imaging
mentioned sensing techniques, a commercial NSOM can system, as shown in figure 47(b) [348, 349]; the influences of
provide a competent performance with some state-of-the-art the side-lobes generated by the pupil filter can be reduced with
prototypes; for example, a commercial scattering-type NSOM the enhancement due to the optical sectioning effect in a con-
can provide a spatial resolution of 10 nm [345]. Meanwhile, ventional confocal setup [350–352]. A high lateral resolution
although NSOM has demonstrated its ability in SR imaging, of better than 0.2 µm was achieved under the conditions of
a short near-field region on the order of tens of nanometres λ = 632.8 nm and NA = 0.85 by an imaging system with a
34
bipolar absolute-differential confocal setup having a shaped PNJ enhancement have been carried out, based on geomet-
annular illumination [349]. ric optics and Mie theory, as well as angular spectrum and
Also, a small focused spot having a long depth of focus was analysis [359].
generated with a radially polarized light whose polarization As well as the theoretical studies, experimental investig-
modulation was controlled by a phase plate having three con- ations have also been carried out to verify the feasibility of
centric regions [353]. With the enhancement of the tight focus- micro-object-based SR microscopy. An early study has been
ing characteristics of a radially polarized illumination with a conducted to show its feasibility in both transmission and
high NA objective as well as the pupil filtering technique in reflection modes with a far-field resolution between λ/8 and
a confocal setup, SR imaging with a lateral resolution beyond λ/14 as shown in figures 49(c) and (d) [329, 360, 361]. Using
the diffraction limit has been realized [348]. a micro-sphere with a diameter of 3 µm, Ferrand verified the
size of a PNJ to be 270 nm at FWHM at a wavelength of
520 nm [362]. Ju employed a self-assembled micro-sphere
5.2.3. Spatially patterned SR. To obtain a resolution bey- to generate remarkably short near-field focal lengths [363].
ond the diffraction limit, some approaches employing spa- From these results, micro-sphere-based SR microscopy is
tially patterned illumination or patterned excitation have been expected to be a viable alternative microscopy technique for
developed. These approaches include so-called structured bioimaging, near-field lithography, optical nanosensing, and
illumination microscopy (SIM), saturated SIM, as well as so on.
stimulated emission depletion (STED). In the following, the In table 9, the characteristics of each of the SR techniques
structured illumination microscope often employed in manu- treated in this section are summarized.
facturing applications is reviewed [354, 355].
Figure 48 shows a schematic of the structured illumina-
tion microscope, where a patterned standing wave structure
is projected onto an object as the illumination field [356]. The 6. Conclusions
spatial frequency of the illumination pattern enables the high-
spatial-frequency components of the object to be shifted to a In this paper, an insight into optical metrology in manu-
lower-frequency region. An image of the object under inspec- facturing has been provided. Today, highly sensitive optical
tion can be reconstructed at a high resolution by obtaining sensors with a sub-nanometer resolution are employed in man-
several images with illumination fields that have different ufacturing processes for precision positioning, as well as in
spatial frequencies and different pattern structures. A pat- post processing for form measurement of a fabricated product
terned illumination field can be obtained from the interference for QC. Some state-of-the-art setups for multi-axis measure-
between several incident beams. With the use of such periodic ment with multiple optical sensors and also a planar/surface
patterned illumination with a sinusoidal intensity modulation, encoder that has planar scale gratings, have been presented.
a moire image with a much lower spatial frequency than that Advances have also been made in optical form interfero-
of the structure of the object under inspection can be captured metry and deflectometry, and until now, many applications
by the microscope. By obtaining several more images while have been developed to evaluate precision optical compon-
scanning the periodic pattern illumination and rotating the tar- ents with a nanometer resolution in the vertical direction.
get object, the sample structure can be reconstructed through With advanced techniques such as sub-aperture stitching inter-
numerical calculations. Under a patterned illumination with ferometry, the form measurement of a large object such as
a high spatial frequency, a lateral resolution of better than the primary mirror of a telescope at a scale of up to several
100 nm can be achieved with an infrared laser source [357]. meters has recently been achieved. The technological innova-
tion in optical form interferometry and deflectometry is expec-
ted to continue due to the strong demands for the fast and
5.2.4. Micro-object-based SR imaging. A new type of SR contactless measurement of large components in many indus-
microscopy, developed in 2004 [358] that uses a photonic trial fields. Furthermore, there is currently strong demand for
nanojet (PNJ), shown in figure 49(a) [329], is attracting measurement of not only the surface form of an object but
attention. When a plane wave is projected onto a micro- also micro- and nanostructures and thin-film structures on an
object, a PNJ is generated behind the object. The modula- object’s surface. Optical microscopy and scatterometry are
tion of the generated PNJ can be detected by an ordinary thus gaining importance in today’s manufacturing industry
optical microscope, as shown in figure 49(b) [329]. In gen- where the miniaturization of components is being accelerated.
eral, the length of a PNJ is approximately 2λ at FWHM, Also, state-of-the-art methods for measuring the internal struc-
while its width is about 0.5 ± 0.2λ at FWHM, depending ture of fabricated products in a non-destructive manner are
on the parameters of the micro-object and its surroundings. attracting attention, as well as SR imaging techniques that
Visible-light backscattering can be enhanced by up to orders can realize a high spatial resolution beyond the diffraction
of magnitude by nanometre-scale dielectric particles within limit.
the PNJ. Furthermore, to obtain a physics-based insight into In the manufacturing industry, where further improvements
PNJ and its SR performance, more theoretical approaches to in accuracy and efficiency are constantly required, the import-
35
ance of multi-axis measurement is expected to increase [1, 2]. Acknowledgment

As the recent increase in market share shows, sensor techno-
logy based on a scale grating that has environmental robust- The authors would like to thank Professor Wei Gao (Tohoku
ness, as introduced in section 2, is also expected to con- University, Japan) for his great contributions to the planning,
tinue to increase in importance. Although the establishment arrangement, and preparation of this topical review article. The
of a method that can guarantee scale accuracy is an import- authors would also like to thank Professor Abraham Mario
ant issue that needs to be addressed, a method based on Tapilouw (Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI),
scatterometry and/or a method based on the highly sensitive Taiwan), Mr. Jiahao Zhang (Huazhong University of Science
optical angle sensor could be a solution [364]. Besides, for and Technology, China) and Mr. Jiao Bai (Tsinghua Uni-
the achievement of even higher machining accuracy, continu- versity, China) for their contributions to the preparation of
ous effort will be made in the development of on-machine/in- the manuscript. Yuki Shimizu would like to thank the Japan
process optical-measurement technologies. Furthermore, with Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for their fin-
the technological improvement of big data processing techno- ancial support of the related research projects. Dae Wook
logy and computer technology, it is expected that the measure- Kim would like to thank the Technology Research Initiat-
ment of fine structures over a wider range may become more ive Fund (TRIF) Optics/Imaging Program, through the Wyant
familiar when enhanced by the stitching method introduced in College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona
section 3. and the Friends of Tucson Optics (FoTO) Endowed Schol-
In recent years, the importance of the traceability of meas- arships in Optical Sciences. Dae Wook Kim would also
urement is increasing in many industrial fields. With the devel- like to acknowledge the II-VI Foundation Block-Gift Pro-
opment of an optical frequency comb, which is directly trace- gram for helping to support general deflectometry research
able to the international standard of time/frequency, many in the Large Optics Fabrication and Testing (LOFT) group.
types of technologies have been developed for the measure- Liang-Chia Chen would like to thank the Ministry of Sci-
ment of length, angle, and other physical quantities with an ence and Technology of Taiwan, for financially supporting this
optical frequency comb laser. This trend is expected to con- research under grants MOST 109-2622-E-002-006-CC2 and
tinue and will be accelerated by the development of a compact MOST 109-2622-8-002-017-TE3. Xiuguo Chen would like to
mode-locked femtosecond laser source at a reasonable cost in thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China for
the near future, when the traceability of measurement is expec- financially supporting this research under Grant No. NSFC
ted to be more important. 51775217.
36
Appendix A
Year Patent Number Title Inventor/Author
1952 US2612074(A) Mirau interferometer Mirau A H

1990 US4948253(A) Interferometric surface profiler for spherical surfaces Biegen J F
1991 US5073018(A) Correlation microscope Kino G S et al
1992 US5166751(A) Interferometric profilometer sensor Massig J H
1993 US5194918(A) Method of providing images of surfaces with a correlation micro- Kino G S Chim S S C
scope by transforming interference signals
1994 US5633715(A) Centroid approach for estimating modulation peak in broad- Ai C and Novak E L
bandwidth interferometry
1995 US5471303(A) Combination of white-light scanning and phase-shifting interfero- Ai C and Caber P J
metry for surface profile measurements
1995 US5446547(A) Combination of motorized and piezoelectric translation for long- Guenther B W, Caber P
range vertical scanning interferometry J and Hayes J B
1998 US5726754(A) Variable-speed scanning for interferometric measurements Andrews M P and
Unruh P R
2001 US6987570(B1) Reference signal for stitching of interferometric profiles Schmit J and Olszak A
2001 US6185315(B1) Method of combining multiple sets of overlapping surface-profile Schmucker M A and
interferometric data to produce a continuous composite map Becker B W
2002 US6493093(B2) Bat-Wing Attenuation in White Light Interferometry Harasaki A and Schmit J
2002 WO02082008(A1) A Method and Apparatus of Two Wavelength Interferometry for Kim S W and Park M C
Measuring Accurate Height of Small Step Composed of Two Differ-
ent Materials
2003 US6545763(B1) Method for measuring a thickness profile and a refractive index Kim S W and Kim G H
using white-light scanning interferometry and recording medium
therefor
2003 US6 538 809(B1) Variable epi-illumination interference attachment Stankewitz H W
2003 US6552806(B1) Automated minimization of optical path difference and reference Swinford R W et al
mirror focus in white-light interference microscope objective
2006 US7054071(B2) Mirau interference objective lens Davidson M P
2007 WO2007060441(A1) Apparatus for and a method of determining surface characteristics Mansfield D I
2008 US7428685(B2) Cyclic error compensation in interferometry systems Demarest F C and Hill
HA
2009 US7605925(B1) High-definition vertical-scan interferometry D Chen
2009 EP2108919(A2) Interferometer for determining characteristics of an object surface de Groot P J and de
Lega X C
2009 US7619746(B2) Generating model signals for Interferometry de Lega X C
2009 US7595891(B2) Measurement of the top surface of an object with/without transpar- Tang S
ent thin films in white light interferometry
2009 US7538887(B1) Temporal interferometric signal modelling with constant phase shift Tang S
in white light interferometry
2010 US7948636(B2) Interferometer and method for measuring characteristics of optically de Groot P J et al
unresolved surface features
2010 US7649634(B2) Methods and systems for white light interferometry and characteriz- Wan D S
ation of films
2011 US7956630(B1) Real-time effective-wavelength error correction for HDVSI Chen D
2011 US7898672(B1) Real-time scanner-nonlinearity error correction for HDVSI Chen D
2011 US7978338(B2) Compound reference interferometer de Groot P J et al
2011 US7952724(B2) Interferometer with multiple modes of operation for determining de Lega X C and de
characteristics of an object surface Groot P J
2011 US8072610(B1) Polarization Mirau interference microscope Schmit J and Hariharan
P
2012 US8126677(B2) Analyzing surface structure using scanning interferometry de Groot P J and de
Lega X C
2012 US8107085(B2) Methods and systems for interferometric analysis of surfaces and de Groot P J
related applications
2016 US20160061592A1 Systems and methods for using white light interferometry to meas- Beye R W and Poh S T
ure undercut of a bi-layer structure
(Continued)
37
(Continued).
Year Patent Number Title Inventor/Author
2016 CN105806789A Optical fiber white light interferometry difference spectrometer Yuan et al
2016 US10288408B2 A scanning white-light interferometry system for characterization of Smith N P and Antonelli
patterned semiconductor features GA
2019 US10598604B1 Normal incidence phase-shifted deflectometry sensor, system, and Schiltz D and Roisen N
method for inspecting a surface of a specimen
2020 TW202012871A Image capturing system and image capturing method Chang W C and Lin C H
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This content was downloaded from IP address 150.162.216.109 on 06/06/2023 at 18:33

Meas. Sci. Technol. 32 (2021) 042003 (47pp) https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/abc578

An insight into optical metrology

Received 18 August 2020, revised 2 October 2020

(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

1. Introduction technologies are employed in state-of-the-art manufacturing

1361-6501/21/042003+47$33.00 1 © 2021 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

Meanwhile, in recent years, attention has been given to redu-

Table 1. Major optical sensors for lengthand displacement measurements.

Laser interferometer • A light wavelength is employed as the graduation for measurement

Figure 4. Interferential scanning-type linear encoder.

Figure 5. A multi-axis positioning system employing multiple

Figure 7. Surface encoder with a mosaic scale grating. Reproduced

Figure 9. Laser triangulation sensors with (a) oblique incidence and

Figure 10. Cutting error measurement of flexspline gears of

the influence of speckle noise. The resolution of most of the

Figure 11. Absolute distance measurement based on the

Laser interfero- • Sub-nanometric resolution

Linear encoder • Sub-nanometric resolution

Multi-axis • Sub-nanometric resolution

Laser triangula- • Sub-micrometric resolution

Absolute dis- [TOF]

Table 3. Major optical sensors for angle measurement.

beam cannot be detected. For simultaneous measurement of

2.2.3. Femtosecond laser autocollimator. Applications of

Figure 16. An angle scale comb generated by an optical frequency

Figure 15. A three-axis laser autocollimator. Reprinted from [103],

mode-locked femtosecond laser equally spaced in the optical

Autocollimator • Resolution: up to 0.005 arc-second

Laser autocol- • Resolution beyond 0.001 arc-second is possible

Three-axis laser • Resolution: up to 0.01 arc-second

Femtosecond • Resolution: 0.1 arc-second

intervals at high speed; one is employed for the feedback con-

3. Optical form interferometry and deflectometry

The optimal functionality of various scientific and commer-

Figure 19. Laser interferometers employed in a Kibble balance.

Figure 21. The interferometric LSST optical test configuration in

sensitivity and measurement resolution rapidly increase when

Figure 22. Three-step wavefront control (left) using a hybrid

Figure 25. Schematic layout of a visible deflectometry system

3.2. Optical form deflectometry

Figure 27. Sub-aperture deflectometry system measuring a

In the context of advanced precision optics manufactur-

3.2.3. Sub-aperture deflectometry. A slope-measuring 3.2.4. Dynamic deflectometry. Instantaneous deflectometry

3.2.5. Outlook for deflectometry. The four distinct and

4. Optical microscopy and scatterometry

4.1. Optical microscopy

4.1.1. Scanning white-light interferometry (SWLI). Laser

Figure 31. Examples of light spectra and the corresponding

more than several wavelengths. In contrast to laser phase-

Figure 34. Fabrication process of silver NRA and an SEM image of

Figure 33. Implementation of a silver NRA in the orthogonal

Similarly, Lyulko modified the conventional Mirau interfer-

Figure 37. Illustration of dual-sensing optical configuration for

4.1.4. Future development trends and challenges. A literat-