Metrological characterization of optical confocal sensors measurements (20 and 350 travel ranges)

Confocal sensors are usually used in dimensional metrology applications, like roughness, form, thickness and surface profile measurements. With the progress of technologies, metrological applications require measurements with nanometer-level of accuracy by using ultra-high precision machines, which should present a minimum and stable metrology loop. The loop is equipped with sensors with nanometer-level of resolution and linear residual. The study presented here, is mainly focused on the characterization of Confocal sensors in order to identify their performance practically. Such information is useful to establish a correction model in the digital signal processing (DSP) software. In this context, LNE developed an ultra-high-precision machine, dedicated to the roughness measurement with an uncertainty of a few nanometres (< 30 nm) by using a tactile sensor. In order to match this machine to Confocal sensors, an experiment has been recently developed to characterize the behaviour of two commercial Confocal sensors with the measuring range of 20 μm and 350 μ m. The experiment permits the evaluation of the major error sources: axial and radial motion errors as-well-as the deviation/tilt of the sensors.