Surface characterization and roughness measurement in engineering

Surfaces are becoming more important especially as miniaturization progress es and with the advent of micro mechanics. The role of the surface is explo red with respect to control of manufacture and prediction of performances a t interfaces and rubbing bodies. This is developed to include some aspects of designer surfaces. Instruments for measuring surfaces are critically exa mined. These include the well-known stylus method, optical methods and the new generation of scanning probe methods: Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). Finally, the ways in which surfaces a re characterized from profile traces and over an area are described.