White-light interference microscopy: effects of multiple reflections within a surface film

The effects of the presence of a transparent thin film on a test surface in white-light interferometric surface profiling are investigated. An expression is obtained for the output intensity variations in a Michelson interferometer which includes the effect of multiple reflections within the thin film. The number of reflections that need to be considered to obtain good convergence to the correct solution is discussed. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.