Continuous wavelet transform for micro-component profile measurement using vertical scanning interferometry

White-light interferometric techniques have been widely used in three-dimensional (3D) profiling. This paper presents a new method based on vertical scanning interferometry (VSI) for the 3D profile measurement of a micro-component that contains sharp steps. The use of a white-light source in the system overcomes the phase ambiguity problem often encountered in monochromatic interferometry and also reduces speckle noises. A new algorithm based on the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is used to retrieve the phase of an interferogram. The algorithm accurately determines local fringe peak and improves the vertical resolution of the measurement. The proposed method is highly resistant to noise and is able to achieve high accuracy. A micro-component (lamellar grating) fabricated by sacrificial etching technique is used as a test specimen to verify the proposed method. The measurement uncertainty of the experimental results is discussed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.