Surface characterization is a very important aspect of industrial manufacturing. All engineering parts are strongly affected in their performance by surface related properties. These properties in turn depend in the topography of the surface. Hence techniques that make it possible a functional representation of surface topography are of paramount importance. Among the many techniques available to get surface topography optical techniques play a fundamental role. Some recent developments in optics surface analysis [1] provide a new approach to optical surface topography studies. This paper presents some new developments in the surface topography analysis particularly in the area of the resolution that can be currently obtained. To achieve this objective existing standards of surface roughness determination are analyzed and optical results are compared with NIST certified standard surface.
[1] Application of plasmons to the determination of surface profile and contact stress distribution:C.A. Sciammarella, L. Lamberti, F.M. Sciammarella,
G. Demelio, A. Dicuonzo, A. Boccaccio. To be published in Strain.