New Keyence profilometer
July 13, 2026
News
We now have a new Keyence profilometer that is replacing both the AlphaStep stylus profilometer and the older keyence system. It is called the Keyence-VKX3000-3D-Optical-Surface-Profilometer. What sets this system apart is the white light interferometry module, which allows for accurate measurement of smooth samples with similar reflectivity, like finding the step height of gold on silicon. We have demoed this to be accurate down to ~20nm, and the system has the ability to measure into the single digit nm depending on the noise levels.
Here are some common use cases:
- Get good 2D optical images of your sample.
- Get 3D images of your sample using the camera and coaxial light, not using a laser. Generates “real” colored images.
- Get 3D images of your sample using the laser and confocal optics. Generates black and white contrast images based on reflected laser intensity to the detector. This method is good for imaging a mostly homogeneous material or finding a step height of two dissimilar materials like a polymer on silicon.
Get 3D images and accurate profiling of smooth samples with similar reflectivity using white light interferometry.
The new Keyence is located in Clark Hall, Room B15. Primary Staff: Alicia Tripp (amt342@cornell.edu) and Steve Kriske (kriske@cornell.edu), secondary.