On-Machine Measurement System and Its

Application in Ultra-Precision
Manufacturing

Xiangqian Jiang, Zhen Tong, and Duo Li

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Surface Metrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Definition of Surface Metrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Surface Features and Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Procedures of Surface Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Measurement Systems Used in Manufacturing Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Classification of Optical Measurement Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Advantages of Embedded On-Machine Surface Metrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Requirements for Embedded Metrology System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Typical Embedded Measurement Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Contact Profilometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Machine Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Confocal Chromatic Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Optical Interferometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Phase-Measuring Deflectometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Focus Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Embedded Metrology in Ultra-Precision Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Contact Profilometer Based On-Machine Measurement System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Non-contact Optical On-Machine Measurement System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Abstract
The increasing complexity of functional surface structures in terms of structure
size and area shape and scale brings considerable challenges on the existing ultra-
precision manufacturing and surface measurement technologies. The discrete

X. Jiang (*) · Z. Tong (*) · D. Li

EPSRC Future Metrology Hub, Centre for Precision Technologies, University of Huddersfield,
Huddersfield, UK
e-mail: x.jiang@hud.ac.uk; z.tong@hud.ac.uk

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 1

S. Yang, Z. Jiang (eds.), Precision Machines, Precision Manufacturing,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5192-0_16-1
2 X. Jiang et al.

nature of manufacturing cycle in industry where the measurement instrument

used for quality assessment is normally in an offline manner significantly limits
productivity and flexibility.
This chapter gives a brief coverage to the historical development of surface
metrology and measurement systems embedded within the manufacturing pro-
cess. The current typical metrological techniques and instrumentation for carrying
out embedded surface metrology are presented from the aspects of working
principle, advantages, applications, and limitations. The specific emphasis has
been put on the applications of embedded measurement system in ultra-precision
manufacturing environment. It is found that with embedded metrology, it is
possible to further improve the processing efficiency and reliability of high-
precision manufacturing. The merits and limitations of embedded measurement
systems used in ultra-precision manufacturing are compared and discussed.

Keywords
On-machine measurement · Surface functionality · Ultra-precision
manufacturing · Surface measurment · Embedded metrology

Introduction

Freeform and micro-/nanostructured functional surfaces have been widely used in

astronomy, aerospace, automotive, semiconductors, telecommunicating, IT facili-
ties, and medical and foods safety, changing our lives in terms of increased living
standards. To ensure the designed functionality, it normally requires surfaces to have
sub-micrometer form of accuracy and nanometer surface topography (Jiang and
Whitehouse 2012). Diamond machining including diamond turning, high-speed
micro milling, fast tool servo, slow tool servo, and fly cutting plays a key role in
the fabrication of functional structured surfaces with mirror finishes. However, the
increasing complexity of surface structures in terms of scale (both the structure size
and the area of structured surface) and shape of the products (e.g., sphere, aspheric,
freeform) impose considerable challenges on the existing ultra-precision fabrication
and surface measurement technologies. The measurement systems used for product
quality assessment in industry are usually in an offline manner where the samples are
measured within the field of view of the instrument. The discrete nature of produc-
tion cycle limits the further development of productivity while allowing high
reliability and flexibility.
Indeed, in many high-precision applications, the removal and remounting of
workpieces in post-process metrology would cause unavoidable alignment error if
re-machining processes need to be carried out. For example, the polishing of large
telescope optics (Walker et al. 2006) and the mounting of the sample on a fixed
measurement platform are very challenging and even impossible when the sample
dimensional size exceeds the measurement scale of current measurement equipment
having nanometer form resolution. The movement of components from manufactur-
ing environment to measurement instruments also increases production cycle times
and component cost. The integration of metrology into manufacturing environment
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 3

will preserve the consistency between the machining and measurement coordinates
and thus allows further improvement of machining accuracy and efficiency by
eliminating repositioning operations.
Additionally, for some demanding advanced production line such as the manufacture
of flexible photovoltaics (PV), printable electronics, structured films, and other roll-to-
roll (R2R) manufacturing processes (Elrawemi et al. 2015), offline or post-process
measurement is not applicable anymore. The high throughput of the manufacturing
processes means that detection of defects post-manufacture would result in the wastage
of a large quantity of products. Although the existing machine-vision inspection
solutions can help detect surface defects, it is incapable to provide height information
for the characterization of all defects. Thus, it is imperative to shift the approach of
metrology from offline lab-based solutions to embedded measurement in manufacturing
platforms (Jiang and Whitehouse 2012). With embedded metrology it is possible to
enhance the material processing and reliability of high added-value critical components,
ultimately leading to cost-effectively eco-manufacturing.
This chapter will briefly introduce the historical development of surface metrol-
ogy and measurement systems and highlight the requirements for embedded mea-
surement used in manufacturing process. Typical metrological techniques and
instrumentation for embedded surface metrology are introduced from the aspects
of working principles, advantages, and typical applications in ultra-precision
manufacturing as well as their limitations.

Surface Metrology

Definition of Surface Metrology

Surface metrology refers to the measurement that describes the surface deviation
between a structured surface and its ideal shape (Whitehouse 2004). Surface metrol-
ogy is used in engineering to understand the creation and behavior of surface
topographies. It specifically covers measurements such as surface texture, surface
roughness, surface shape, surface finish, form, etc.
The surfaces are generally manufactured to provide specially designed functional
properties. These surfaces are produced by variety of processes such as diamond
turning, milling, grinding, polishing, molding, etc. High-precision engineered surfaces
of desired functionality are usually manufactured by manipulating geometrical features
on surfaces. Functional properties directly relate to the geometrical features, and hence
measurements of such features are extremely important. The measurement results also
give valuable feedback to manufacturing units for controlled manufacturing.

Surface Features and Characterization

Surface features are generally characterized along the vertical direction by height
parameters and along the horizontal direction by spatial (wavelength) parameters.
The structures on the surfaces are basically various components of frequency related
4 X. Jiang et al.

to the manufacturing process or the production technique used. According to the

spatial frequency, a surface profile can be generally divided into three types of
surface features, namely, roughness, waviness, and form.
Roughness refers to the highest-frequency components present on a surface of
interest. Roughness depends on the type of manufacturing method employed rather
than the machine type.
Waviness results due machine deflections and vibration and is defined as repeat-
ing irregularities with spacing greater than roughness. In terms of frequency, the next
lower order frequency components on the surface represents waviness.
Form error is the overall parameter describing the maximum of the local deviations
of the real form of a line or surface from the nominal – geometrically ideal feature. Form
error is generated due to lack of rigidity of the workpiece during the machining process
allowing it to flex or bend. This contains lowest frequency components on a surface.
Several factors such as material strain, temperature changes during machining, and
excessive surface residual stress can cause form error.
With the development of novel and robust mathematical tools, the characteriza-
tion interest has shifted from profile to areal, from stochastic to tessellated, and from
simple geometries to complex freeform surfaces. For areal surface characterization,
the concept of scale-limited surface has been developed. The scale-limited surface
contains S-F surface and S-L surface, which are created by a combination of S-filter,
L-filter, and F-operator as shown in Fig. 1 (ISO Standard 25178-2 2012).

Procedures of Surface Measurement

Surface measurement involves three basic steps: acquisition of data by an instru-

ment, filtration, and analysis by parameterization (Fig. 2). Sometimes fitting of the
acquired data is required to remove any underlying shape due to the tilt of sample
relative to the measuring instrument. Filtering is used either to remove the undesired
aspects of surface topography or to select the elements which are needed for analysis
or evaluation. So, filtering wherever employed must be carried out with utmost care
so that the desired information always remains. After filtering the data is analyzed to
describe the surface features in some numbers called parameterization.
Large numbers of surface parameters are developed to characterize the surface
topography. These surface parameters have been categorized into mainly four
groups: height parameter, shape parameter, wavelength parameter, and combination
of these known as hybrid parameter. Similarly, statistical function gives detailed
statistical description of surface properties. Examples of statistical functions are the
power spectral density function, the autocorrelation function, the amplitude density
function, and the bearing area curve.

Measurement Systems Used in Manufacturing Process

Structured surfaces have enabled functional advancements such as lubrication,

adhesion, wear diagnostics, friction, and so on. As the dimensions of products are
getting smaller, the surface features and its properties become a dominant factor
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 5

Fig. 1 Relationships between the S-filter, L-filter, F-operation, and S-F and S-L surfaces (ISO
Standard 25178-2 2012). S-filter, which defined as a filter that removes small-scale lateral compo-
nents from the surface resulting in the primary surface. L-filter, which is used to remove large-scale
lateral components from the primary surface or S-F surface. F-operator, which removes the form
from the primary surface. An S-F surface results from the use of an S-filter and an F-operator in
combination on a surface and an S-L surface by the use of an L-filter on an S-F surface

Fig. 2 General procedures for the measurement of a patch of surface topography

affecting the functionality of products. With advanced surface metrology techniques,

there is high possibility of improving material processing processes, making
manufacturing more efficient, reliable, economic, and less environmentally
sensitive.
6 X. Jiang et al.

Classification of Optical Measurement Systems

Many reviews have been written regarding various optical methods, offering a
detailed list of categories such as polarization interferometry, speckle interferometry,
heterodyne interferometry, white-light interferometry, moiré and structured light
methods, holographic methods, confocal microscopy, optical scattering, focus var-
iation, etc. All these categories can be divided into two types, namely, non-interfer-
ometric and interferometric techniques. The surface characterization can be
performed at different conditions according to requirements of applications.
Vacharanukul and Mekid provided a classification for the act of measurement during
the manufacturing process in three groups, namely, in- process, in situ, and post-
process (Vacharanukul and Mekid 2005).
In-process or in-line metrology can be defined as any measurement method
which occurs while the manufacturing process continues. This may include use of
the metrology as part of a control system to provide real-time feedback information
for compensation of manufacturing errors or later in the manufacturing chain for
continuous processes. The harsh factory environment brings big challenges for in-
process measurement. The in-process metrology system should be robust enough to
allow the motion of the measurand, vibration, and heat generation. The system
should also be protected from manufacturing contaminants such as swarf, dust,
and cooling fluids. Examples of in-process metrology include the measurement of
moving webs in a roll-to-roll manufacturing line as well as the measurement of
conveyed products.
On-machine, in situ, online, or embedded metrology is the process of measur-
ing surfaces without removal of the workpiece from the manufacturing platform.
The manufacturing is actually halted during the measurement process. Typical
examples of on-machine metrology like grinding tool wear measurement, charac-
terization of tip geometry of milling cutters, measurement of both the molds,
components in precision injection molding, measurement of surface roughness,
form deviation of freeform surfaces produced by diamond machining, etc. Com-
pared to in-process measurement, it not only significantly relaxes the challenges
for implementation due to a mild assessment surroundings but also takes the
advantages of not having to remove/refit workpiece in terms of further surface
modification. Challenges faced are those such as machining platform motion
errors, environmental disturbances, and process contaminants.
Post-process or offline metrology describes the measurement through instru-
ments located remotely from the manufacturing process. The maturity of measure-
ment technologies and the ability to perform measurement at a specific
temperature, humidity, pressure, as well as anti-vibration environment are advan-
tages of office metrology. However, the discrete nature between production and
measurement, the cost of upkeep of a separate facility, as well as the operator costs
of nonautomated metrology are significant drawbacks of using offline metrology. It
is also time consuming to fix and realign the workpiece on a machine tool for
further surface modification.
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 7

Advantages of Embedded On-Machine Surface Metrology

Compared with offline surface measurement, the following benefits of on-machine

measurement are offered:

(A) Increased inspection efficiency

From the production perspective, the integration of measurement system in

manufacturing environment increases the inspection efficiency and production
throughput and reduces the cost associated with transportation labor and tools,
staff training, and maintenance of offline measurement equipment.

(B) Improvement of machining accuracy

The coordinate system between machining and measurement process is consis-

tent through the whole manufacturing process when machining with assist of on-
machine measurement system. This is particularly important when machining ultra-
precision surfaces requiring sub-micrometer and even nanometer level form
tolerance.

(C) Improvement of automation level

The automated nature of on-machine metrology makes it indispensable for

autonomous and intelligent manufacturing. The machined surface can be inspected
in situ, and the extracted information can be promptly fed back to machine control
system for product quality control. The intimate knowledge of measurement strategy
and other operation experiences can be integrated into CNC machine control system,
which means that operator experience is less necessary in the product manufacturing.

Requirements for Embedded Metrology System

In general, the embedded system used in manufacturing platform need to be compact

and flexible enough to allow for an easy installation. Furthermore, they must be
capable of reaching the same performance as their commercial standalone equiva-
lents (Jiang and Whitehouse 2012). In order to match and exceed the performance of
offline metrology tools, the selected embedded measurement instrument must meet
as many of the following requirements as achievable:

• Robust to environment. The effects of temperature, humidity, vibration, and

atmospheric pressure and the presence of lubricants/contaminants must not
adversely affect the quality of measurement.
• Compact design. The instrument is supposed to be compact enough to be
integrated into a machine.
8 X. Jiang et al.

• Measurement rate. The measurement rate/speed of the instrument should match

the production line requirement. High measurement rate will help reduce the
effects of environmental noise on measurement results and save the time for a
complete measurement.
• Measurement range. The measurement range of the instrument should be large
enough to cover all the features of interest.
• Dynamic range. The ratio of axial range to resolution is important to (a) increase
the instrument versatility in measurement and (b) reduce the cost associated with
the requirement for many probes/objectives to cover a range of measurement
regimes.
• Measurement precision. The measurement precision of embedded metrology
system must equal or exceed existing offline methods due to the ever-decreasing
feature sizes of engineered surfaces.

Typical Embedded Measurement Systems

In general, an appropriate measurement technique used for a surface metrology

should be determined according to the function of the surface and its applications.
In this section, typical embedded measurement systems are selected and briefly
introduced from the aspects of working principle, typical applications, advantages,
and limitations.

Contact Profilometer

Stylus profilometry (Fig. 3) and scanning probe microscopes (SPMs, Fig. 4) are two
typical contact profilometers. A tactile probe is used in contact profilometer to collect
the surface topography information. The stylus-based profilometer traces a
contacting stylus through a transducer (acting as a gauge) and measures the vertical
variation of the stylus as it traverses across the surface of interest. The lateral
resolution is determined by the radius of curvature of stylus tip and the slopes of
the surface irregularities. Currently the measurement range can achieve up to several
millimeters in height with a vertical resolution in nanoscale. Equipped with an extra
translational stage, a stylus profilometer is able to measure areal surfaces in a raster
scanning mode. Many commercial products have been developed by the Taylor
Hobson Limited, typically Talysurf PGI (surface form measurement) and Talyrond
series (roundness measurement).
SPMs are developed based on the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and the
atomic force microscope (AFM). It has much common with the stylus-based instru-
ment but uses STM/AFM fine level tips to scan surfaces. The surface information
collected by STM/AFM is the charge density or atomic forces, not the height data.
The contact profilometer is preferred for measurement of large deviation freeform
surfaces due to its high lateral/vertical resolution and large measurable range.
However, the contact stylus tips have high risk to be damaged in harsh measurement
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 9

Fig. 3 Schematic representation of stylus profilometer

or
e detect
sensitiv
Position Laser
Vy
O
Vx

Cantilever
Computer

Tip
Set potential
Sample Contr
oller
X
Piezotube z
Y
scanner Z
y
x

Feedback system

Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of the basic working principle of AFM (Guo et al. 2013)

environment. It is also not suitable to measure soft and dedicate surfaces as the
surface would get scratched or even functionally damaged when the stylus tip
scanning the surface. The finite size of stylus tip also makes it impossible to
penetrate into all valleys of the true surface and thus introduces a nonlinear distortion
to the measured envelope. The image resolution is highly dependent on the tip
geometry, and the point-by-point scanning of contact profile meter also makes the
measurement of surface topography time-consuming. From these point of views,
contact profilometers are usually considered not applicable to the metrology in
manufacturing environment. However, several attempts have been conducted
10 X. Jiang et al.

recently to use scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) with finer tips to realize the on-
machine measurement of ultra-precision machined microstructures. More details are
introduced in the following section.

Machine Version

Machine vision is imaging-based optical metrological system which is commonly

used for surface inspection in industry such as die attach bond inspection, ball grid
array inspection, solar and PV device inspection, metal surface inspection, print
inspection, etc. As shown in Fig. 5, it consists of four main parts, namely, illumina-
tion system, imaging optical system, detector, and computer system. The tested
surface is illuminated by a light source, and then the features within the field of
view (FOV) are imaged by a high-speed camera. The recorded grayscale images are
analyzed by data processes algorithms such as averaging and filtering to characterize
the surface features of interest. The selection of illumination source depends on the
applications. Bright field transmission illumination is normally used for transparent
or nearly transparent material, while dark field illumination system is preferred for
glossy surfaces. For low-contrast surface, a diffuse illumination is recommended,
and directional lighting source is usually applied for structured surface (Harding

Computer with frame grabber

CCD Camera

Driver and
Camshaft
Interface Board
Fixed Centre

Axis of
Rotation

DC Motor coupled
with encoder
Backlighting Arrangement

Fig. 5 Configurations for in-line inspection calibration and in situ roundness measurement (Ayub
et al. 2014)
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 11

2013). The selection of high-speed camera is normally depended on the requirement

of web speed and the minimum feature size on the tested surface. The commercial
CMOS cameras usually can offer line rates up to 140 KHz with 4 K pixels and 10 μm
pixel size. However, the technique can only provide 2D surface information, and it
remains very difficult to obtain the depth information of the tested surface.

Confocal Chromatic Microscopy

Confocal chromatic microscopy (CCM), also known as confocal chromatic sensing

(CCS) and confocal chromatic spectrometry (CCS), takes advantage of using two
pinhole apertures as spatial filters for focused rays (as schematically shown in Fig.
6). Monochromatic or white-light source travels through one pinhole and converges
on the sample surface. The other pinhole works as a filter in front of the detector
which only allows the reflected focused rays to transmit through it and reached the
detector or a spectrometer. Mechanical vertical scanning is required for monochro-
matic confocal microscopy to get the height information of a point. CCM of white-
light source takes advantage of the chromatic aberration introduced by a lens and the
range of focal lengths of a broadband light source. Each wavelength of the illumi-
nation corresponds to a focal plane along the optical axis. After calibration of the
instrument, a range of focal lengths can be used to achieve parallelization scanning in
depth direction (Ruprecht et al. 2004). In order to reconstruct surface topography,
scanning the surface in XY plane is required.
The confocal microscopy can be potentially applied in in-process metrology due
to its compact system design, high measurement rate, and data processing speed.

Fig. 6 Schemas of confocal

microscopy
12 X. Jiang et al.

Most recently, company such as Precitec, Nanofocus, and Micro-Epsilon can supply
CCM instrument with different performance. However, the confocal microscopy still
suffers from the same problems as other microscopy instruments – physical limita-
tion of objective. The vertical measurement range and lateral resolution are largely
restricted by the working distance and diffraction limit of objective used if not
camera limited (Leach and Sherlock 2013). Another problem with CCM is the
occurrence of self-imaging when measuring surfaces with curved profiles such as
lens arrays, curved trenches, and grooves with radii (Lyda et al. 2012). The local
radius of the surface refocuses wavelengths of the source light that should be out of
focus at the measured surface. These refocused lights will travel back into the
measurement apparatus and result in a false reading of the surface height.

Optical Interferometry

In the past decades, many interferometry-based metrology instruments have been

developed to achieve high measurement accuracy. Optical interferometry is based on
the analysis of the fringes generated by two light beams with the same frequency.
The beams originate from the same source but traveling along different paths. An
optical objective is required to bring two or more beams to interfere. According to
the way to split the beam into reference and measurement beams, the interferometric
objective can be broadly classified into four types, namely, Linnik, Michelson,
Mirau, and Fizeau. The most popular interferometers are phase-shifting interferom-
etry (PSI), white-light interferometry (WLI), and wavelength scanning interferom-
etry (WSI). Interference signal is obtained by varying the path length between the
test object and the reference beams. The path length variation is generally induced by
either vertical scanning or phase-shifting techniques which involve mechanical
scanning. It can also be induced by nonmechanical means such as wavelength
scanning and dispersive methods. Vertical resolution of nanoscale level can be
achieved by the interference signal, while the lateral resolution is limited by the
objectives used.

Phase-Shifting Interferometry
Phase-shifting interferometry (PSI), also known as temporal phase measurement,
makes the use of phase changes occurring in an interferogram during a controlled
phase shift. These phase change can be induced by rotating polarizers, moving
diffraction gratings, translation of mirrors, or tilt of glass slides. The 3-point, 4-
point, and 5-point algorithms are commonly used to calculate the interferogram
phase. Higher frame number algorithms usually have higher resistance to errors at
the expense of measurement rate. Other algorithms such as the Carré algorithm allow
calculation of interferogram phase without application of a known phase shift,
assuming that the applied phase shifts are equal each time.
The PSI with a single-wavelength light source with long coherence length offers
outstanding axial resolution. It is renowned as having sub-nanometer resolution with
an achievable repeatability of less than 1 nm independent of field size (Leach 2011).
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 13

However, the high axial resolution of temporal PSI is offset by its measurement rate.
The measurement rate is reduced proportional to the number of camera-captured
frames required by the chosen PSI algorithm. This limitation makes PSI particularly
susceptible to environmental influence, for example, the vibration, where changes in
surface position between frames result in measurement errors.
Another limitation of temporal PSI is the fatigue and failure associated with the
translation and mechanical settling of heavy optics thousands of times throughout
the life cycle time of the instrument. The relative nature of PSI also results in the
phenomenon that the measured surface height wraps around every time the surface
height deviates by half the illuminating wavelength or more. The PSI is thus
recommended to measure smooth surfaces or step heights less than a quarter of a
wavelength.
In contrast to the temporal PSI, the spatial phase-shifting interferometry also
known as instantaneous interferometry is an optical measurement method where the
required phase shifts occur instantaneously in time. The phase shift of spatial PSI can
be induced by polarization of measurement and reference beams and use of multiple
detectors. As compared to temporal PSI, the instantaneous nature of spatial PSI can
inherently increase the measurement rate by elimination of the requirement for
multiple camera frames per measurement. It also avoids the difficulties associated
with temporal PSI such as vibration and sample movement. However, the difficulties
in calibrating multiple image sensors and the measurement errors introduced by the
non-common path nature of spatial PSI are the inherent limitations of the spatial PSI.
A variation of spatial PSI, namely, a single-shot phase-shifting interferometer, has
been developed to circumvent the problems suffered by previous traditional PSI. It
produces four phases shifted interferograms through use of a quarter wave plate and
a pixelated birefringent mask in front of a single detector (Millerd et al.
2006) (Fig. 7). The single-shot nature and much improved measurement rate allow
areal measurement of surfaces without sensitivity to vibration or air flow through
interferometer paths, making this method potentially advantageous for on-machine
measurement of moving films, webs, and other continuous production processes.
Zeeko has used this kind of metrology instruments (commercialized by 4D Tech-
nology) as part of their on-machine stitching interferometer (OMSI) module for
seven axis precision polishing and grinding machines. Nevertheless, dynamic inter-
ferometry is limited to near-perpendicular measurement of surfaces and still suffers
from the phase ambiguity problem which is common to all phase-shifting techniques
(Williamson 2016) (Fig. 7).

Vertical Scanning Interferometry

Vertical scanning interferometry (VSI), also known as white-light interferometry
(WLI) or coherence correlation interferometry (CCI), uses the short-coherence
length of a wide bandwidth source (typically several hundred nanometers band-
width) along with the fact that the interference fringes have highest contrast when the
path lengths of the interferometer arms are matched. By mechanically varying the
length of one arm of the interferometer, the intensity of the interferogram at each
pixel is modulated, and a pixel-wise intensity pattern of the surface is generated. The
14 X. Jiang et al.

Test
Mirror
Single Mode Laser

QWP PBS
High
Resolution
Camera
Diverger QWP
Phase-Mask

Reference
Mirror
A C A C A C
B D B D B D
A C A C A C
B D B D B D
A C A C A C
Parsing
B D B D B D
Pixelated
Mask Pattern Pixelated Sensor
Mask Arrary

Phase-Shifted Interferograms

Fig. 7 Twyman-Green configuration for pixelated interferometer (Millerd et al. 2006). It produces
four phases shifted interferograms through use of a quarter wave plate and a pixelated birefringent
mask in front of a single detector (Millerd et al. 2006) (Fig. 7).

absolute distance of tested surface with respect to reference plane is determined by

retrieving the locations of coherence peaks from the captured interferograms. Sur-
face topography is acquired after tracking all coherence peaks within the field of
view of the interferometric objective (as shown in Fig. 8).
The absolute (as opposed to relative) nature of coherence scanning methods
allows the metrological application to rough surfaces and structured surfaces with
large discontinuities. Its vertical measurable range is dependent on the working
distance of the objective and the scanning range of the translation system, usually
a few micrometers to a few centimeters. Many commercial products using VSI
technique have been developed, such as Talysurf CCI 6000 from the Taylor Hobson
Ltd. (vertical resolution of 0.1 Å), NewView 7300 (vertical resolution smaller than
0.1 nm), and APM650 (areal measurement of high aspect ratio features) from the
ZYGO Corporation. However, a large amount of interferograms are required to
calculate the coherence profile, which significantly limits the measurement rate of
VSI. The vertical mechanical scanning also requires extra calibration and compen-
sation process before the in situ/offline measurement.

Wavelength Scanning Interferometry

Wavelength scanning interferometry (WSI) is proposed for the first time by Takeda
and Yamamoto (1994). It takes advantage of shifting the phase by tuning wave-
lengths of broadband light source without any mechanical scanning. As the wave-
length varies, the phase difference between the measurement arm and reference arm
changes, resulting in sinusoidal intensity variations of individual pixels. Absolute
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 15

Fig. 8 (a) Schematic of vertical scanning interferometry; (b) localization of coherence peak using
VSI technique (Tang 2016)

surface position of each point can then be determined through frequency analysis of
the intensity variations. To analyze the fringes and retrieve the phase information,
various algorithms have been developed based on the zero-crossing technique, fast
Fourier transform (FFT), and convolution and Carré algorithm. WSI can characterize
both the rough and smooth surfaces without 2π phase ambiguity. It can also be
extended to measure film thickness measurement through separation of interference
signals from the top and the bottom of film surface in frequency domain (Gao et al.
2012; Ghim and Kim 2009).
Compared with CCI/VSI, the wavelength change rate is over mechanical scan
rate. The camera exposure time and the computing time for data processing are
factors limiting measurement rate of WSI. It is highly computationally intensive for
areal measurement as a large number of frames need to be captured and analyzed for
each areal measurement. The wavelength change is also very sensitive to the
environmental noises such as mechanical vibration and air turbulence. To minimize
the environmental effects and achieve the high measurement accuracy, Jiang et al.
proposed an enhanced WSI which introduced an active servo control system (refer-
ence interferometer) to monitor environment noise and compensate the environment-
induced measurement error, as shown in Fig. 9. This reference interferometer is
utilized as a feedback source for a close loop control system to stabilize the entire
interferometry (Muhamedsalih et al. 2013). Most recently, this improved WSI has
been successfully used in R2R process for surface defect inspection (Muhamedsalih
et al. 2015).

Dispersive Interferometry
Dispersive interferometry, normally named spectrally resolved white-light interfer-
ometry (SRWLI) or white-light channeled spectrum interferometry (WLCSI),
achieves phase shifting through wavelength variations without mechanical scanning.
The interference beam is spatially dispersed by a diffraction grating or prism before
16 X. Jiang et al.

DAQ PC Frame
card grabber

CCD
AOTF Detector
driver Set_point
DM2

B.S.2 ki
DM1
kP s

White
light AOTF Reference mirror
attached to PZT

Sample to be
measured
SLED

Fig. 9 An enhanced WSI with an active servo system to eliminate the environmental noise
(Muhamedsalih et al. 2013)

being focused onto the camera, through which a channeled spectrum is obtained, and
the phase information is encoded as a function of wavenumber along the chroma-
ticity axis of the camera. Therefore, the surface profile can be obtained in a single
shot, which largely improves the measurement rate of the interferometry with respect
to the VSI and the WSI. Scanning the surface in XY plane is usually required for a
dispersive interferometer to reconstruct surface topography.
In order to integrate the dispersed interferometry into production line, several
variations of dispersive interferometry have been proposed recently, such as the
spatially dispersed short-coherence interferometry (SDSCI), the line-scan dispersive
interferometry (LSDI), and the dispersed reference interferometry (DRI). In partic-
ular, the DRI adds a dispersive element in the reference arm of the interferometer to
separate the source light angularly by the wavelength. Because of the short-coher-
ence nature of the light source used in DRI, the length of the measurement arm is
determined by the most strongly interfering wavelength of light. Surface topography
measurements are based on phase shifts due to wavelength variations, avoiding the
problems caused by optical path difference scanning and phase-shift calibration (Fig.
10). The DRI has high axial resolution (nanometer level) and robustness to discon-
tinuous and structured surfaces. In order to enable DRI the ability to perform on-
machine surface topography measurement, a small, light, and compact fiber-linked
probe was applied to separate the bulky and comparatively fragile interrogation
optics from the measurement probe. High-resolution position data (2 nm resolution
in axial direction) has been achieved by applying a template matching technique
(Williamson et al. 2016).
 On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . .

Fig. 10 Schematic of the experimental bulk optics dispersed reference interferometer (left) and DRI interrogation interferometer with a fiber-linked probe
(right) (Williamson 2016)
17
18 X. Jiang et al.

Phase-Measuring Deflectometry

Phase-measuring deflectometry (PMD), also known as structured light and fringe

projection, detects the distortions of a sinusoidal fringe projection upon a surface to
determine the surface topography. The working principle of PMD is illustrated in
Fig. 11. A digital laser projector (DLP) generates sinusoidal fringes on a rear
projection screen (normally use computer software), and the fringes are projected
onto the surface under test. From different viewpoints, the reflected fringe patterns
from the specular surfaces appear deformed with regard to the slope variation of the
measured surfaces. The distortions of fringes are then observed by one or more areal
detectors, for example, a charged couple device (CCD) camera. After the proper
calibration, the surface height information can be reconstructed through numerical
integration of gradient data derived from the deformed fringes. Because two orthog-
onal local slopes data are needed to be integrated to reconstruct a 3D surface
tomography, vertical and horizontal fringe patterns are usually needed to be
displayed sequentially on an LCD screen. To further improve the measurement
speed, cross-fringe pattern and color-fringe pattern (Fig. 12) were proposed to
code multiple fringe patterns in one image (Zhang et al. 2017).
A significant strength of deflectometry is the adaptability to measure both spec-
ular and diffuse surfaces. Owning to its advantages of large dynamic range, non-
contact operation, and high measurement rate, the PMD technique has been applied
in several areas such as the measurement of freeform car body sheets (Sárosi et al.
2010), large aspherical and/or spherical mirrors (Su et al. 2012), and flaw detection
of specular or semi-specular reflective surfaces (Chan 2008). Though robust to
movements and environmental effects, the vertical resolution of current PMD system
is still limited to microscale, and thus it is unsuitable for surface topography
measurement. The measurement error resulted from the parasitic reflections from

Fig. 11 Working principle of

classical PMD to measure
specular objects (Zhang et al.
2017)
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 19

Fig. 12 (a) One crossed fringe pattern containing two orthogonal fringe patterns and (b) color
composite fringe pattern containing three fringe patterns (Zhang et al. 2017)

the rear surface of transparent screen optics should be carefully considered in order
to further improve PMD measurement accuracy (Faber et al. 2012).

Focus Variation

Focus variation tracks the changing of image sharpness across the depth of field
when mechanically moving an objective lens or the measured sample. The 3D
topographical surface data is obtained through pixel-by-pixel calculation of image
focus. As schematically shown in Fig. 13, the collimated beam is first brought to an
objective and is focused onto the sample surface. All reflected rays then go back to
the objective and are gathered by a camera through an imaging lens. Unlike other
optical techniques where coaxial illumination usually is the only choice, various
illumination schemes can be used in focus variation instrument, for example, a ring
light illumination can greatly enhance the measurable slopes of the system up to 80

(Danzl et al. 2011). The axial measurable range is dependent on the scanning range
and the working distance of the objective. Additionally, the polarizer and analyzer
showed in Fig. 13 can be used as filters to polarize the light when measuring metallic
surfaces with steep and flat surface elements. Commercially this has resulted in the
infinite focus range of offline measurement instruments by Alicona Imaging GmbH
(Fig. 13).
The absolute nature of the focus variation method allows measurement of dis-
continuous surfaces containing steep, broken or rough regions, and the spatially
separated regions. This method has excellent measurement range (up to 25 mm) with
10 nm achievable axial resolution, making it applicable to surfaces with complex
structures and large discontinuities. Compared with interferometric-based methods,
it is less susceptible to short-term variations in ambient light, temperature, humidity,
and pressure.
20 X. Jiang et al.

Fig. 13 Schematic diagram of measurement device based on focus variation (Wojciech Kapłonek
et al. 2016)

However, the requirement for mechanical scanning in height direction makes the
focus variation somehow a slow method. The measurement rate is less than 1 Hz,
making it sensitive to vibration and inappropriate for in-line/on-machine measure-
ment. Another negative aspect is the necessity for nanoscale surface roughness to
back scatter sufficient light for sharpness detection.
Despite these limitations Alicona offer the IF-SensorR25, IF-Portable, and IF-
Robot for metrology in production environments. IF-SensorR25, a miniaturized
version (126  153  202 mm) for integration with machine tools, has been
reported as beneficial for measurement in electro-discharge machining (EDM)
centers, allowing a fourfold increase in machining accuracy (Williamson 2016).
IF-Portable and IF-Robot are offered as roughness, waviness, and form measurement
tools for use in production environments with a focus on the ability to measure on
and around traditionally difficult to measure larger components and assemblies.
Focus variation instrument from Alicona was also applied as one of the character-
ization methods to investigate the additive manufacturing process such as selective
laser melting and electron beam melting (Triantaphyllou et al. 2015).

Embedded Metrology in Ultra-Precision Manufacturing

Contact Profilometer Based On-Machine Measurement System

Several contact profilometers have been employed for embedded on-machine sur-
face measurement (OMSM) because of its technological maturity and the ease of
integration. To ensure the similar or higher performance of measurement system
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 21

used in OMSM, several modifications and specific setups are usually required. In
this section, the applications of embedded on-machine measuring system (OMMS)
in ultra-precision manufacturing based on contact profilometer are introduced with
emphasis on the principle and accuracy achieved.
Suzuki et al. (Suzuki et al. 2008) applied a new contact type of on-machine
measuring system to measure aspherical optical parts with a steep surface angle. In
this measuring system, a ceramic air slider was adopted for the measurement probe,
and a high-accuracy glass scale was employed to reduce the thermal drift of the
displacement gauge. To reduce the change in the probe friction force, the air slider or
the measuring probe was tilted to 45
against the aspherical workpiece axis. This
configuration will keep the contact angle between the probe axis and the contact
surface constant (Fig. 14b) when the probe was scanned over the workpiece surface.
Chen et al. employed a compensation approach to grind the tungsten carbide
aspheric molds. In this approach, a contact probe based on-machine measurement
was employed to eliminate the profile error (Fig. 15). A sapphire microprobe of
0.5 mm in radius was used to measure the ground profile on-machine. A new method
was proposed to reconstruct the actual ground profile based on the measured profile
data. The overall profile error after grinding was obtained by subtracting the target

Fig. 14 (a) Schematic of on-

machine contact probing for
optics grinding process; (b)
tilted angle probe
configuration (Suzuki et al.
2008)
22 X. Jiang et al.

Fig. 15 (a) Mold grinding

machine with integrated
probing unit; (b) schematic of
compensation grinding
strategy (Chen et al. 2010)

profile from the actual ground profile along normal direction and was then used to
generate a new tool path for compensation grinding. The experimental results
showed that after three compensation grinding cycles, the aspheric surface had a
profile accuracy of 177 nm (in PV) with a roughness of 1.7 nm (in Ra) (Chen et al.
2010).
Contact probing systems are nowadays provided as accessories in some commer-
cial ultra-precision machining tools. For example, Moore Nanotech provides an on-
machine measuring probing system, which is composed of a linear variable differ-
ential transformer (LVDT) sensor and air bearings. It has been reported that this on-
machine measurement function can improve the diamond machining accuracy for
freeform optical surfaces. The on-machine contact measurement was utilized to align
the remounting workpiece into the modified machining coordinate, while surface
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 23

error derived from offline measurement was used for compensation machining
(Zhang et al. 2015).
Nevertheless, the ruby ball used in the conventional contact probing system often
has probe radius of several millimeters, which inherently limits lateral resolution of
the measurement. Several attempts have been conducted to use scanning probe
microscopes (SPMs) with tiny tips to realize on-machine measurement of ultra-
precision machined micro-/nanostructured surface. As shown in Fig. 16, Gao et al.
have designed an AFM head to measure diamond turned sinusoidal microstructures.
A robust linear encoder was adopted in the AFM head for the measurement of profile
height in the presence of electromagnetic noise. The OMMS was able to measure
microstructured surfaces with 0.5 nm resolution in a spiral path (Gao et al. 2007).
Zhu et al. developed a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) probing system and
applied the system in the ultra-precision fly-cutting process (Fig. 17) (Zhu et al.
2016). The probe tip follows the surface variations of the machined microstructure at
a constant distance through the control of the difference between detected tunneling
current and the default value. A piezoelectric translator (PZT) was used to drive the
probe during the measuring process. A capacitance sensor was used to record the
displacement of the driven piezoelectric translator (PZT) which reflects the profile
measured surface. The geometrical size of the probe plays a key role on the
measurement accuracy. Chemical etching process is well suited for the fabrication

Fig. 16 Robust AFM based

Spindle (rotary encoder) AFM-head
on-machine measuring system
(Gao et al. 2007) (linear encoder)

XY-grid workpiece

X-slide (linear encoder)

ri zi

θi
Y
Profile
i+1
yi i (xi,yi,zi)
ri i–1

Xi X

Spindle θi
center (O)
24 X. Jiang et al.

Fig. 17 STM-based on-machine measuring system with ultra-sharp tips (Zhu et al. 2016)

of tungsten probe with a stabilized stylus contour and ultra-sharp apex radius in high
production reproducibility. Currently, tungsten probes with a controllable aspect
ratio from 20:1 to 450:1, apex radius less than 20 nm and cone angle smaller than
3
can be achieved by the etching process (Ju et al. 2011).
Zhu et al. has employed this STM-based probing system to assist the precision
fabrication of rectangular pyramid arrays. The STM-based probing system was
mounted on the main spindle of an ultra-precision turning machine. The form
accuracy of high-slope microstructures was significantly improved by cutting
depth compensation of fly cutting in 120
direction through feedback of on-machine
measured results (Zhu et al. 2016). The same probing system was also employed to
measure 3D curved compound eye surfaces machined by STS technique (Zhu et al.
2015). A tip-tracking strategy was proposed to extend the measuring ranges with
more flexibility. Distortion caused by central alignment errors was analyzed based on
the characteristic points.
Moreover, a piezoelectric force sensor was innovatively integrated into a FTS
device to constitute a force-displacement servo unit termed as FS-FTS (Chen et al.
2015). The FS-FTS acted as a cutting tool with force sensor during the machining,
and it was employed as a contact probe after the machining. The characteristic
enabled the unit to perform structured surface machining, profile measurement,
defect identification, and cutting tool reposition. With the assistance of FS-FTS,
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 25

Chen et al. proposed an in-process identification and repairment of diamond turned

micro-lens arrays on a roll mold (Figs. 18 and 19). The thrust force was monitored
during the machining process as an indicator to reflect cutting status and singular
forces map with respect to the cutting tool position. After the defects were identified
by FS-FTS scanning, the repair process was subsequently carried out (Fig. 19).
Additionally, a concept of relay fabrication was proposed based on the capability
of FS-FTS on repositioning a new tool to the former cutting spot after the replace-
ment of the worn tool (Chen et al. 2014). A bidirectional scanning strategy was
employed to increase the positioning accuracy due to the delay of the feedback
control loop. Stitching fabrication of a microgroove line array and filling fabrication

Fig. 18 Steps of the in-process measurement method for repair of destructive microstructures on a
roll mold. (a) Step 1 for real-time detection of the micro-defect positions. (b) Step 2 for character-
ization of the micro-defect surface profiles (Chen et al. 2015)

Fig. 19 The repair and evaluation steps. (a) Step 3 for repairing the defective microstructure
elements. (b) Step 4 for evaluating the repair results (Chen et al. 2015)
26 X. Jiang et al.

of a micro-lens lattice pattern demonstrated the feasibility of the tool position

measurement method.
Table 1 summarizes state-of-the-art researches on the contact profilometer-based
OMMS and corresponding applications in ultra-precision machining processes.

Table 1 Contact profilometer-based OMMS and applications

No Author Principle Instrument Performance Applications Remarks
1 Suzuki Contact A high- Contact force Steep optical The tilted angle
et al. ball accuracy <0.3 mN; mold grinding configuration
(2008) glass scale 0.14 nm scale reduced the variation
with a resolution in the probe friction
ceramic force
air slider
2 Chen Contact N.A. Similar to Aspheric mold Normal-
et al. ball offline grinding compensation tool
(2010) profilometer path was generated
in terms of according to the
form reconstructed profile
deviation from OMSM
3 Zhang Contact A LVDT 20 nm Freeform A novel
et al. ball sensor resolution; diamond turning compensation
(2015) with an air measurement method is proposed
bearing standard using a combination
slide deviation of on-machine and
10 nm off-machine
measurement
4 Gao SPM AFM head 0.5 nm Microstructured The use of linear
et al. with a resolution surface FTS encoder increases
(2007) robust machining the robustness of
linear AFM head, and
encoder alignment issue was
investigated for
accurate
measurement
5 Zhu SPM Position- 5 nm vertical Fly-cutting and A tip-tracking
et al. servo resolution STS machining strategy was
(2015) STM with proposed to extend
ultra-sharp the measuring
stylus ranges. It is capable
of scanning steep
microstructured
surfaces (V-grooves
and compound eyes)
6 Chen Piezo- FS-FTS Sub-mN Microstructured Defect repair and
et al. force contact force; surface relay fabrication of
(2015) sensing 30 nm machining micro-lens arrays
resolution were achieved with
FS-FTS
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 27

Non-contact Optical On-Machine Measurement System

Non-contact optical measurement techniques are nondestructive and usually have

high measurement rate, which makes them suitable for on-machine and in-process
applications. Particularly for ultra-precision machining processes, on-machine inter-
ferometry has received a lot of attention from researchers for its nanometric precision
and high-speed acquisition.
Shore et al. employed a Twyman-Green phase-shifting interferometer to conduct
on-machine measurement of form accuracy of machined individual multi-mirror
arrays used in the James Webb Space Telescope. The interferometer is mounted on a
3-axis machine with submicron positioning ability as shown in Fig. 20a. The
measurement of form and radius was carried out using the cat’s eye position (Fig.
20b), where the interferometer was focused on the surface and gave a quick
measurement of mirror radius by measuring the displacement required to move
from cat’s eye to confocal positions. Achievable form accuracy of the individual
mirror is reported below 20 nm RMS (Shore et al. 2006).
King et al. proposed an integrated solution for polishing and on-machine mea-
surement of large-scale optics up to 1 m in diameter (King 2010). As shown in Fig.
21, it consisted of a Zeeko IRP 1000 polishing machine and a 5-axis motorized stage
housing 4D dynamic interferometer. The dynamic interferometry is a variation of
traditional PSI. Four phase-shifted interferograms are simultaneously generated
through the use of a quarter wave plate and a pixelated birefringent mask in front
of a single detector. The single-shot nature of the dynamic interferometry allows fast
surface measurement without sensitivity to vibration or airflow through interferom-
eter paths. The large optics were measured in situ without the need of risky
transportation to offline metrology platforms, and corrective polishing was subse-
quently carried out. The measurement system was also equipped with different CGH
elements to measure aspheric and freeform optics. Besides, a white-light interfer-
ometer for texture measurement and a laser tracker for radius measurement were
integrated as optional accessories of the polishing machine.

Fig. 20 PSI on-machine measurement of diamond turned mirror arrays (a) measurement system
configuration; (b) measurement of form and radius (Shore et al. 2006)
28 X. Jiang et al.

Fig. 21 Zeeko IRP 1000 machine, 5-axis motorized stage, and 600 Fizeau interferometer
(King 2010)

In terms of microscale topography measurement, a wavelength scanning inter-

ferometer (WSI) based on wavelength division multiplexing was developed recently
for the measurement of diamond machined-structured surfaces on a large drum
turning machine. Jiang et al. created a new kind of full-field measurement to replace
electromechanical scanning with white-light interferometry and to form a compact
system that is fast, robust, and suitable for in situ surface measurement (Fig. 22)
(Jiang 2011). An experimental system was developed for the manufacture of dia-
mond turned/fly cut microstructured surfaces on a large drum diamond-turning
machine. Nanometer precision surface measurement results were achieved for
microscale structured samples. The instrumentation will have numerous further
applications in precision machining, micro-machining, and the general manufacture
of surface reliant products such as embossed steel sheet (Fig. 23) (Jiang 2011).
Due to the sensitivity to environmental disturbances and complex system config-
uration of interferometric instruments, non-interferometric OMMS have also been
investigated in recent years. Röttinger et al. presented a setup of miniaturized
deflectometry on a diamond-turning machine and measured high-precision specular
surfaces without re-chucking operations (shown in Fig. 24). The development of
global calibration and parasitic reflections reduction will boost the usage of
deflectometry. The advantages of on-machine deflectometry include the environ-
mental robustness and the capability of measuring arbitrary freeform surfaces within
micron accuracy without additional null testing. By rotating the object with the
machine’s rotational axis, the field of measurement was easily increased to cover the
large aperture and steep mirrors (Röttinger et al. 2011).
Confocal microscopy is an effective tool for surface measurement in the micro-
scale. Compared with other optical methods, the maximum detectable slope can be
as large as 75 degree with enough scattered light enhanced by software and
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 29

Fig. 22 The wavelength scanning interferometry system. (a) A schematic diagram; (b) a prototype
system (Jiang 2011)
30 X. Jiang et al.

a b
Glass substrate um um
22.00 Glass substrate
22.00
20 20
18 18
16 16
14 14
12
12
10
10
8 8
6

)
m
6

)
m
(m
Y:

(m
Y:
4
1

55
2
.4

55
.4
1. 2
8

1.
0.00
(m

8(
X:

X:
0.00

m
m

m
)

)
Top surface of film
Bottom surface of film

Fig. 23 Thin film measurement. (a) The top surface of the film forms a step upward on the glass
substrate. (b) The bottom of the film surface forms a step downward on the glass substrate (Jiang
2011)

Fig. 24 Setup of PMD on a

multi-axis ultra-precision
machine tool (Röttinger et al.
2011)

hardware. All these characteristics make it applicable to measure complex and high-
slope structured surfaces in the manufacturing environment. Zou et al. integrated a
chromatic confocal sensor on a self-developed ultra-precision turning lathe for 3D
measurement of diamond turned aspheric surfaces. As shown in Fig. 25, the sensor
was mounted perpendicular to the vacuum chuck plane and aligned with a reference
sphere. The combined standard uncertainty of the measurement system was esti-
mated to be 83.3 nm, which mainly resulted from the flatness uncertainty of the
scanning hydrostatic slide (Zou et al. 2017).
Moreover, in order to characterize the functional-related geometric properties,
several special OMMSs have been developed for corresponding applications. For
instance, Gao et al. developed a two-dimensional optical slope sensor with a multi-
spot light beam for on-machine measurement of local slopes of the FTS turned
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . . 31

sinusoidal surface (Gao et al. 2006). As illustrated in Fig. 26, the sensor unit was
mounted opposite to the cutting tool on the feeding slide. A cylindrical lens was
integrated in the sensor so that slopes of the sinusoidal structures could be detected

Fig. 25 Chromatic confocal based on-machine measurement for ultra-precision turning processes
(a) schematic diagram of the OMM system; (b) image of the OMM system (Zou et al. 2017)

Fig. 26 Optical slope sensor

for on-machine measurement
of FTS machined sinusoidal
structures. (a) Schematic of
the fabrication and
measurement system for the
cylindrical master grid; (b)
schematic of the slope sensor
(Gao et al. 2006)
32 X. Jiang et al.

without the influence of curvature of the cylindrical workpiece. After machining, the
surface was measured on the machine without removing the workpiece from the
spindle. Post-process compensation was carried out to further improve the machined
surface quality. The results indicated that the error component caused by the round
nose geometry of the tool was reduced from 0.632 mrad (10.1 nm in height
amplitude) to 0.112 mrad (1.8 nm in height amplitude) through the post-process
compensation, indicating the effectiveness of the proposed on-machine measure-
ment system.
To overcome the rigorous environmental requirements for on-machine optical
measurement system, Li et al. proposed a pattern-based autostereoscopic (DPA) 3D
metrology system to capture raw 3D information of the measured surface in a single
snapshot by a CCD camera (as shown in Fig. 27). A micro-lens array was used to
capture raw 3D information, and the 3D digital model of the target surface was used
to directly extract disparity information (Li et al. 2015). The direct extraction of
disparity information (DEDI) method is highly efficient when performing the direct
3D mapping of the target surface because the tomography-like operation excluded
the defocused information of every depth plane. Precise measurement results have
shown that the proposed DPA 3D metrology system is capable of measuring 3D
microstructured surfaces with sub-micrometer measuring repeatability for high
precision and in situ measurement of microstructured surfaces.

Fig. 27 Disparity pattern-based autostereoscopic system for in situ inspection of diamond turned
microstructures (Li et al. 2015)
Table 2 Non-contact optical type of OMSM and applications
Author/
No year Principle Instrument Performance Applications Remarks
1 Shore Interferometry Trioptics μphase PSI 1.9 nm repeatability MIRI mirror Relative locations of confocal positions
et al. diamond turning are evaluated with the aid of OMSM
(2006)
2 King Interferometry 4D dynamics 30 μs acquisition time; 0.002λ Large-scale optics Single shot and vibration insensitive
2010 interferometry wavelength precision polishing measurement
3 Jiang Interferometry Wavelength scanning 15 nm vertical resolution; anti- Microstructures Real-time vibration compensation with a
(2011) interferometer vibration <300 Hz diamond turning on monitoring interferometer
drum rolls
4 Röttinger Deflectometry Mini-PMD Sub-micron accuracy Freeform ultra- Environmentally insensitive and able to
et al. precision machining measure arbitrary freeform without null
(2011) testing
5 Zou et al. Chromatic STIL confocal point Relative measurement error Diamond turning Measurement uncertainty mainly
(2017) confocal sensor 0.022%; combined standard resulted from the flatness of the scanning
uncertainty 83.3 nm slide
6 Gao et al. Autocollimation Optical slope sensor N.A. FTS machining of The surface slope errors caused by the
(2006) with a cylinder lens cylindrical tool nose geometry were corrected with
sinusoidal structures the integrated slope sensor
7 Li et al. Auto- Disparity pattern- Sub-micrometer measuring Pyramid structured Compact, fast capturing, and
On-Machine Measurement System and Its Application in Ultra-Precision. . .

(2015) stereoscopy based repeatability surfaces machining environmental robust

autostereoscopic 3D
system
33
34 X. Jiang et al.

The state-of-the-art research work on the non-contact optical OMMS and

corresponding applications in ultra-precision machining processes are summarized
in Table 2 with highlights on the performance and application remarks.

Summary

The ability to effectively monitor the machining process and measure products
rapidly in manufacturing environment has become a fundamental limiting factor in
the deterministic manufacturing of micro-/nanostructured surfaces with specific
functions. Most of the measuring (dimensional and surface topography) systems
used in micro-/nanoscale manufacturing is relatively slow, expensive, and in an
offline manner.
This chapter has briefly introduced the typical embedded measurement systems
used in manufacturing process. They have different performances with respect to
range, resolution, measurement rate, and ability to measure discontinuous surfaces.
Contact methods have been commonly used for on-machine metrology for its
technological maturity. Compared with optical methods, contact methods are appli-
cable to measure high-slope surface geometries. However, the contact methods
normally operate at a low-scanning speed, and the contact nature makes them
unsuitable to measure the soft and delicate surfaces. Some SPMs are developed for
some ultra-precision machining applications. However, the tip wear issue is still a
big challenge for large area and long-time measurement. Non-contact methods
which have fast measurement rate, high data density, and in nature preventing
damage to delicate measurands or to the measurement instrument itself have been
widely explored in this case such as machine vision, phase-shifting interferometry
(PSI), white-light interferometry (WLI), wavelength scanning interferometry (WSI),
dispersive interferometry, etc. With the development of calibration and processing
algorithms, non-interferometric methods such as deflectometry and confocal chro-
matic microscopy (CCM) are receiving more attention in specific measurement
conditions. However, for ultra-precision machining applications, robust interferom-
etry is still the best choice because of its high measurement resolution (nanometer
and even sub-nanometer).

Acknowledgment The authors would like to acknowledge the supports from the UK’s Engineer-
ing and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under Grant No. EP/P006930/1 and the
European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No.
767589.

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