New instrumentation has been developed that is dedicated to the measurement of surface
morphology with high resolutions and short acquisition times. Sinusoidal phase-shifting
interferometry is demonstrated to provide within an acquisition time of only a few milliseconds
topographic images with ~1 nm height precision, ~1 μm lateral resolution, and a few tens of pm
sensitivity. A white-light scanning microscope is also under development, using an in-house
developed high speed, intelligent CCD camera, the first tests of which demonstrate the feasibility of
providing topographic images of deep surface relief (several microns to several tens of microns)
within less than 0.3 s. The useful lateral field of view can be extended by employing image
“stitching” while maintaining a high lateral resolution.