MICROMETHOD OF SURFACE-ROUGHNESS MEASUREMENT WITH SEM

A method that makes use of the scanning electro microscope has been developed to measure the roughness of a microscopic sample, such as the top of a connecting post of a TO-5 semiconductor package. The electron beam of the SEM scans along a surface The intensity of emitted secondary electrons, while reveal the surface profile, is recorded on a photographic plate. The resulting curve is digitized and the roughness is estimated. The results obtained by this method compare favorably with the conventional profilometric method.