3D optical profiling, developed in the early 1990s, is crucial for high-resolution measurement of optics, semiconductors, medical devices, and precision machining. Recent developments have expanded its capabilities, allowing high-resolution surface texture measurements over many square millimeters in minutes.

An Industry 4.0 mindset and a “lights-out” style of operation is driving quality and manufacturing teams to integrate measurements and process controls more tightly. The hope is that localized, closed loops will provide great benefits, including lower manufacturing costs, lower labor costs, and improved product quality.

In Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) there has been a long-standing conflict between the worlds of specification and measurement. The goal of specification is to ensure that components will function; the goal of measurement is to ensure that manufactured components meet those functional requirements. 

Specifications for surface texture frequently focus on surface “roughness”—the finer structures in the texture—often to the exclusion of the “waviness”—the larger structure of the texture. Unfortunately, problems related to sealing, vibration, noise, wear, etc., are regularly caused by issues hidden in the waviness domain, which cannot be captured by common roughness specifications.