Characterization and Correction of the Geometric Errors using a Confocal Microscope for Extended Topography Measurement, Part II: Experimental Study and Uncertainty Evaluation

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental implementations of the mathematical models and algorithms developed in Part I. Two experiments are carried out. The first experiment determines the correction coefficients of the mathematical model. The dot grid target is measured, and the measurement data are processed by our developed and validated algorithms introduced in Part I. The values of the coefficients are indicated and analyzed. Uncertainties are evaluated using the Monte Carlo method. The second experiment measures a different area of the dot grid target. The measurement results are corrected according to the coefficients determined in the first experiment. The mean residual between the measured points and their corresponding certified values reduced 29.6% after the correction. The sum of squared errors reduced 47.7%. The methods and the algorithms for raw data processing, such as data partition, fittings of dots’ centers, K-means clustering, etc., are the same for the two experiments. The experimental results demonstrate that our method for the correction of the errors produced by the movement of the lateral stage of a confocal microscope is meaningful and practicable.