Patent ID: 6943823

Claim:
A method for producing height images of technical surfaces with microscopic resolution with the help of a confocal measuring microscope, whereby the sample to be measured is displaced in a controlled manner in the direction (Z-direction) of the microscope and the recorded digitized images are transmitted to a controller (PC) for further processing an evaluation, in a manner such that the light intensity maximum is determined for every pixel, whereby the position of the maximum supplies the height of the sample to be measured; wherein the sample is displaced continuously and the image exposures are triggered in the course of displacement at discrete localized distances; and that the intensities of the N number of individual images so recorded and digitized are stored in the PC, in such a manner that a number N of successive storage locations are occupied for every pixel, such storage locations being successively filled from the first to the Nth image, whereupon the respective intensity maximum/the respective intensity maximums is/are determined by calculation for every pixel and evaluated on the basis of all measured data; and wherein for the location-dependent triggering of the image exposure, trigger pulses transmitting the position are tapped from the element displaced in the Z-direction and supporting the sample.