An Optical Profilometer for Ultra Highvacuum Conditions - Design, Construction, and Implementation

To understand our world, it is essential to know the laws of nature. Over centuries these laws have been deduced from measurements, but there are still a lot of open question. One of these open questions is the exact measurement of profiles under very clean conditions, which is hereby solved. This book describes in detail the design, construction and implementation of an optical profilometer which can measure complex surface profiles under ultra high vacuum conditions. The surface profile (in vacuum) is obtained by scanning an optical sensor across a viewport. The instrument was designed with the aim of characterizing electrostatically deformed silicon wafers. To bend the selected wafers into the required shape a tuneable electrical field of up to 25 MV/m is necessary. To prevent electric breakthrough of the electrostatic field a clean UHV environment is required.
This book should be interesting for scientists, engineers and whoever is interested in measuring.