A 3D micro tactile sensor for dimensional metrology of micro structure with nanometer precision

In this paper, a mechanic model is developed for the stiffness and stress of a 3D micro tactile sensor for 3D dimensional metrology of micro structure, which is validated by the finite element analysis (FEA). The design parameters of the sensor have been investigated using ANSYS. Some experiments by integrating the sensor with a 3D dimensional metrological positioning platform are performed to validate the design, which shows 5 nm and 10 nm resolution in z and x/y direction respectively, working range of 4.7 μm and cross talk of 0.5%.