Surface measurement instrument with adjustable sample support

摘要

A surface measurement instrument 1 for obtaining surface characteristic data of a sample surface 13 is described. Relative movement between a reference surface 11 and a sample support 15 is caused to occur while a sensor 16 senses light intensity at intervals along a scan path SP to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface 13 during said relative movement and from which series of intensity values surface characteristic data can be derived. The sample support 15 is both translatable and tiltable in at least one direction perpendicular to a scan direction so that the sample support 15 can be both tilted to cause the scan path SP to be normal to the sample surface region and translated to compensate for translation movement due to the tilting.