Surface texture calibration standards

Ensuring accurate measurements

NPL can calibrate standards for two-dimensional and three-dimensional surface topography measuring instruments. These include step height standards, periodic standards and standards with pseudo-random surface texture (for testing the overall performance of the instrument). Similar dimensional standards for atomic force microscopes can also be measured.

2D surface texture standards

NPL provides traceable calibrations for 2D surface standards with features ranging from micrometres to millimetres in height. The most accurate calibrations are obtained using the NanoSurf 5 instrument. This instrument, developed at NPL, uses laser interferometers to provide accurate displacement measurements in both the vertical and horizontal axes. The high stiffness of the metrology frame and the use of low thermal expansion coefficient materials enable very low uncertainties to be achieved. The instrument can be used to determine all ISO 21920-2:2021 and ISO 4287:1997 surface texture parameters and calibration of various ISO 25178-70:2014 material measures as measurement standards (calibration artefacts) and type A to E material artefacts as described in ISO 5436-1:2000. 

3D surface texture standards

New standards, e.g. ISO 25178-6, are emerging for three-dimensional surface topography measurements. Supporting these new measurement requirements, NPL has developed a three-dimensional, or areal, surface texture measurement capability to calibrate standards for the verification of measurement instruments and provide directly traceable measurements for components such as optical components (e.g. lenses), machined parts (e.g. cylinders liners), industrial coatings, bio-medical devices, wafers for microelectronics and MEMS.

Atomic force microscope standards

Pitch and height standards used to calibrate atomic force microscopes can be calibrated using the Metrological Atomic Force Microscope (MAFM), developed at NPL, that uses laser interferometers to provide traceable measurement of displacement in all three axes over a measurement range in x and y of 100 micrometres. The typical uncertainties for pitch measurement range between ± 0.2 nm (300 nm pitch) to ±2 nm (10 µm pitch), and for step height measurement range between ± 0.4 nm (10 nm step) to ± 15 nm (0.5 µm step).

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