Surface profiling apparatus Number:7,385,707 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent A surface profiling apparatus and method. Broadband light is directed along sample and reference paths such that light reflected by a region of a sample surface and light reflected by a reference surface interfere. A mover effects relative movement between the sample and reference surfaces along a scan path. A detector senses a series of light intensity values representing interference fringes produced by the region of the sample surface during the movement. A data processor processes the intensity values as they are received during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak, and, after completion of a measurement operation, uses this coherence peak position data to obtain data indicative of the height of the surface region. The data processor includes a correlator for correlating intensity values with a correlation function to provide correlation data to enable the position of a coherence peak to be identified.<H apparatus, profiling, Surface, profili, 7385707.html, Patent, pto, 7385707

Title: Surface profiling apparatus

Abstract: A surface profiling apparatus and method. Broadband light is directed along sample and reference paths such that light reflected by a region of a sample surface and light reflected by a reference surface interfere. A mover effects relative movement between the sample and reference surfaces along a scan path. A detector senses a series of light intensity values representing interference fringes produced by the region of the sample surface during the movement. A data processor processes the intensity values as they are received during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak, and, after completion of a measurement operation, uses this coherence peak position data to obtain data indicative of the height of the surface region. The data processor includes a correlator for correlating intensity values with a correlation function to provide correlation data to enable the position of a coherence peak to be identified.

Patent Number: 7,385,707 Issued on 06/10/2008 to Bankhead, et al.

Inventors: Bankhead; Andrew Douglas (Leicester, GB), McDonnell; Ivor (Leicester, GB)
Assignee: Taylor Hobson Limited (Leicester, GB)

Appl. No.: 10/507,837

Filed: March 13, 2003

PCT Filed: March 13, 2003

PCT No.: PCT/GB03/01067

371(c)(1),(2),(4) Date: May 23, 2005

PCT Pub. No.: WO03/078925

PCT Pub. Date: September 25, 2003

Foreign Application Priority Data


Mar 14, 2002 [GB]			0206023.4
Nov 27, 2002 [GB]			0227665.7

Current U.S. Class: 356/497 ; 356/479; 356/511

Field of Search: 356/497,499,511,512,513,516,496,479,484,485,489,495,498

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5615011	March 1997	Boisrobert et al.
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5706085	January 1998	Blossey et al.
5717782	February 1998	Denneau, Jr.
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0 244 781	Nov., 1987	EP
WO-94/18523	Aug., 1994	WO
WO-95/33970	Dec., 1995	WO

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Primary Examiner: Connolly; Patrick
Assistant Examiner: Richey; Scott M
Attorney, Agent or Firm: RatnerPrestia

Claims

The invention claimed is:

1. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: the second processors comprises: a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; and a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; the first processor comprises a determiner operable to determine a range of the intensity values that includes an intensity value representing a coherence peak and to identify that range of intensity values to the correlator; and the determiner comprises a further correlator.

2. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: the controller is arranged to provide a measurement interval such that one of each pair of discrimination values is alternately zero; the second processor comprises: a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; and a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; the first processor comprises a determiner operable to determine a range of the intensity values that includes an intensity value representing a coherence peak and to identify that range of intensity values to the correlator; and the determiner comprises: a discriminator operable to determine discrimination values for successive sets of received intensity values, the discriminator arranged to determine discrimination values by multiplying a set of intensity values by corresponding pairs of discrimination values; and a peak finder operable to find a peak in the discrimination values and to identify the peak as representing the coherence peak.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the discriminating value pairs are: 0,1; 1,0; 0,-1; -1,0.

4. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: the second processor comprises: a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; and a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; the first processor comprises a determiner operable to determine a range of the intensity values that includes an intensity value representing a coherence peak and to identify that range of intensity values to the correlator; and the determiner comprises: a discriminator operable to determine discrimination values for successive sets of received intensity values, the discriminator arranged to identify the range of intensity values in accordance with whether or not the peak in the discrimination values is higher than a predetermined threshold and to set the range as all of the intensity values supplied by the sensor for the sample surface region when the peak of the discrimination values does not exceed the predetermined threshold; and a peak finder operable to find a peak in the discrimination values and to identify the peak as representing the coherence peak.

5. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: the second processor comprises: a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; and a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; the first processor comprises a determiner operable to determine a range of the intensity values that includes an intensity value representing a coherence peak and to identify that range of intensity values to the correlator; and the correlator is arranged to correlate intensity values with correlation function data comprising a set of pairs of first and second indices and is arranged to produce a pair of correlation elements for a given intensity value by multiplying each of a range of intensity values including the given intensity value by a corresponding one of the first indices and summing the results to produce a first one of the pair of correlation elements and by multiplying each of the range of intensity values by a corresponding one of the second indices and summing the results to produce the other one of the pair of correlation elements, the correlator being operable to store the pair of correlation elements in a memory area of a correlation buffer of the correlator.

6. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: the first processor comprises a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; the second processor comprises a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; the correlator has a correlation function provider operable to provide the correlation function data as a number of groups each consisting of a number of pairs of first and second indices and has a correlation buffer having an array of memory areas each for storing a pair of correlation elements for a corresponding intensity value; and the correlator is arranged: to carry out a first step of multiplying a first intensity value of a series of intensity values for a surface region separately by the first index and by the second index of each of a first group of said pairs of indices to produce, for each of said pairs of indices, corresponding pairs of first and second multiplication elements and to accumulate each pair of multiplication elements in a corresponding different one of a series of the memory areas; to carry out a second step of repeating the first step for each of a succession of said intensity values using a different group of said pairs of indices at each repetition; to carry out a third step by moving the series of memory areas by a predetermined number of memory areas along the array and then repeating the first and second steps; and to carry out a fourth step by repeating the third step moving the series of memory areas by a predetermined number of memory areas along the array at each repetition until, at least for each of a number of the intensity values, a memory location corresponding to the intensity value contains first and second correlation elements with the first and second correlation elements representing the sum of the multiplication elements resulting from multiplying each of a sequence of said intensity values by a corresponding different one of the first and second indices, respectively.

7. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: the first processor comprises a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; the second processor comprises a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; the correlator has a correlation function provider operable to provide the correlation function data as four groups each having four pairs of first and second indices and has a correlation buffer having an array of memory areas each arranged to store a pair of correlation elements for a corresponding intensity value; and the correlator is arranged: to carry out a first step of multiplying a first intensity value of a series of intensity values for a surface region separately by the first index and by the second index of each of a first one of said groups of pairs of indices to produce four pairs of first and second multiplication elements and to accumulate each pair of multiplication elements in a corresponding different one of four of the memory areas; to carry out a second step of repeating the first step for the next three intensity values using the second, third and fourth groups of said pairs of indices, respectively; to carry out a third step by moving the series of memory areas by one and then repeating the first step for the next intensity value and the second step for the three following intensity values; and to carry out a fourth step by repeating the third step moving the series of memory areas by one memory area along the array at each repetition until, for every fourth one of a number of the intensity values, a memory location corresponding to the intensity value contains first and second correlation elements with the first and second correlation elements representing the sum of multiplication elements resulting from multiplying each of a sequence of sixteen of said intensity values by a corresponding different one of the first and second indices, respectively.

8. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the correlation buffer is a circular buffer and a correlation buffer controller is provided to overwrite an oldest entry in the buffer when the buffer is full.

9. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the further correlator is arranged to use a coarser correlation function than the correlator.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the further correlator is arranged to correlate intensity values with correlation function data comprising a set of pairs of first and second indices and is arranged to produce a pair of correlation elements for a given intensity value by multiplying each of a range of intensity values including the given intensity value by a corresponding one of the first indices and summing the results to produce a first one of the pair of correlation elements and by multiplying each of the range of intensity values by a corresponding one of the second indices and summing the results to produce the other one of the pair of correlation elements, the further correlator being operable to store the pair of correlation elements in a memory area of a correlation buffer of the further correlator.

11. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface alone a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: one of the first and second processors comprises a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; the second processor comprises a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; a peak finder arranged to function in a number of different states with a switch from one state to the next being determined by the relationship of an intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element to a previous intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element or threshold; and the different states of the peak finder include: an initial state; a low state; a found state; and an early state; and the peak finder switches to: the initial state for a first value of the intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element; the low state when the value of the intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element is below a threshold value; the found state when the value of the intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element is above the threshold value; and the early state if the first value of the intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element is above the threshold value.

12. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface alone a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: one of the first and second processors comprises a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; the second processor comprises a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; a peak finder arranged to function in a number of different states with a switch from one state to the next being determined by the relationship of an intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element to a previous intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element or threshold; and the different states of the peak finder include: an initial state; a low state; a rising state; a falling state; a found state; and an early state; and the peak finder switches to: the initial state for a first value of the intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element; the low state before the value of the intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element rises above a threshold value; the rising state when the value of the intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element is rising; a falling state when the value of the intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element is falling; the found state when the value of the intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element falls below a predetermined proportion of a previous maximum value; and the optional early state if the first value of the intensity value, discrimination value or correlation element is above the threshold value.

13. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: one of the first and second processors comprises a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; and the second processor comprises a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; and the surface height determiner is arranged to determine a signal-to-noise ratio for the values provided by the correlator and to abort the height determination if the signal-to-noise ratio is too low.

14. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: one of the first and second processors comprises a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; the second processor comprises a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; the correlator is arranged to correlate intensity values with correlation function data comprising a set of pairs of first and second indices to produce pairs of correlation elements; the surface height determiner is arranged: to determine amplitude values from the pairs of correlation elements and to determine a height of a sample region by fitting a Gaussian to amplitude values and by identifying the position of the coherence peak with a predetermined feature of the Gaussian fit such as the position of the peak of the Gaussian; and the surface height determiner is arranged to accumulate the squared amplitude values and to abort the height determination if the ratio between a maximum squared amplitude value and a mean of the accumulated squared amplitude values is below a threshold.

15. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: one of the first and second processors comprises a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; the second processor comprises a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; and the surface height determiner further comprises a phase determiner operable to determine the intensity value having a predetermined phase and to determine a height of a sample surface region using a position on the measurement path corresponding to the determined intensity value.

16. Apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the phase determiner is operable to determine an estimate of the predetermined phase position using the intensity value closest to the coherence peak, then to unwrap the phase of the correlation values, and to determine the actual position corresponding to the predetermined phase using a linear fitting procedure.

17. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: one of the first and second processors comprises a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; the second processor comprises a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; and a position determiner is provided to determine the position of said one of the sample surface and the reference surface on the measurement path and a triggerer is provided to trigger the sensor to sense light intensity to provide a set of intensity data signals in accordance with position data obtained by the position determiner.

18. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along a sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement between the sample surface and the reference surface along a measurement path; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during the relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect the relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during the relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values, the data processor comprising: a receiver operable to receive intensity values from the sensor during a measurement operation; a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received by the receiver during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, use the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: one of the first and second processors comprises a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function having first and second periodically varying wave functions with the first and second wave functions being of different phase and being bounded by an envelope; the second processor comprises a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; and the sensor comprises a two-dimensional array of sensing elements and a field-of-view controller is provided to control the field of view of the sensor by controlling combining or selecting of intensity data signals produced by sensing elements.

19. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along the sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement along a measurement path between the sample surface and the reference surface; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during said relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect said relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during said relative movement; and a data processor for processing the intensity values to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein a position determiner is provided to determine the position of said one of the sample surface and the reference surface on the measurement path and a trigger is provided to trigger the sensor to sense light intensity to provide a set of intensity data signals in accordance with position data obtained by the position determiner.

20. Surface profiling apparatus for obtaining surface profile data for a sample surface, the apparatus comprising: a light director operable to direct light along the sample path towards a region of a sample surface and along a reference path towards a reference surface such that light reflected by the region of the sample surface and light reflected by the reference surface interfere; a mover operable to effect relative movement along a measurement path between the sample surface and the reference surface; a sensor operable to sense light representing the interference fringes produced by a sample surface region during said relative movement; a controller operable to carry out a measurement operation by causing the mover to effect said relative movement while the sensor senses light intensity at intervals to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface during said relative movement; and a data processor operable to process the intensity values to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein the sensor comprises a two-dimensional array of sensing elements and a field-of-view controller to control the field of view of the sensor by controlling combining or selecting of intensity data signals produced by sensing elements.

21. Data processing apparatus for processing intensity values, said data processing apparatus comprising: a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, using the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein; the second processor comprises: a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function including sine and cosine wave functions bounded by a Gaussian envelope; and a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; the first processor comprises a determiner operable to determine a range of the intensity values that includes an intensity value representing a coherence peak and to identify that range of intensity values to the correlator; and the correlator is arranged to correlate intensity values with correlation function data comprising a set of pairs of first and second indices and is arranged to produce a pair of correlation elements for a given intensity value by multiplying each of a range of intensity values including the given intensity value by a corresponding one of the first indices and summing the results to produce a first one of the pair of correlation elements and by multiplying each of the range of intensity values by a corresponding one of the second indices and summing the results to produce the other one of the pair of correlation elements, the correlator being operable to store the pair of correlation elements in a memory area of a correlation buffer of the correlator.

22. Data processing apparatus for processing intensity values, said data processing apparatus comprising: a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, using the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; wherein: the second processor comprises: a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function including sine and cosine wave functions bounded by a Gaussian envelope; and a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak; the first processor comprises a determiner operable to determine a range of the intensity values that includes an intensity value representing a coherence peak and to identify that range of intensity values to the correlator; the determiner comprises a discriminator operable to determine discrimination values for successive sets of received intensity values and a peak finder operable to find a peak in the discrimination values and to identify the peak as representing the coherence peak; and the discriminator is arranged: to identify the range of intensity values in accordance with whether or not the peak in the discrimination values is higher than a predetermined threshold; and to use as the predetermined threshold a value related to the mean of the discrimination values.

23. A correlator for use in a data processing apparatus for processing intensity values, comprising: a correlation function provider operable to provide the correlation function data as a number of groups each consisting of a number of pairs of first and second indices and having a correlation buffer having an array of memory areas each for storing a pair of correlation elements for a corresponding intensity value; and a correlation processor arranged: to carry out a first step of multiplying a first intensity value of a series of intensity values for a surface region separately by the first index and by the second index of each of a first group of said pairs of indices to produce, for each of said pairs of indices, corresponding pairs of first and second multiplication elements and to accumulate each pair of multiplication elements in a corresponding different one of a series of the memory areas; to carry out a second step of repeating the first step for each of a succession of said intensity values using a different group of said pairs of indices at each repetition; to carry out a third step by moving the series of memory areas by a predetermined number of memory areas along the array and then repeating the first and second steps; and to carry out a fourth step by repeating the third step moving the series of memory areas by a predetermined number of memory areas along the array at each repetition until, at least for each of a number of the intensity values, a memory location corresponding to the intensity value contains first and second correlation elements with the first and second correlation elements representing the sum of the multiplication elements resulting from multiplying each of a sequence of said intensity values by a corresponding different one of the first and second indices, respectively; wherein: the data processing apparatus comprises: a first processor operable to carry out processing on intensity values as the intensity values are received during a measurement operation to produce data indicating the position of a coherence peak; and a second processor operable to, after completion of a measurement operation, using the data produced by the first processor to obtain data indicative of a height of the surface region; one of the first and second processors comprises a correlator operable to correlate intensity values with correlation function data representing a correlation function to provide correlation data for that sample surface region to enable a position of a coherence peak in the intensity values for a sample surface region to be identified, the correlation function including sine and cosine wave functions bounded by a Gaussian envelope; and the second processor comprises a surface height determiner operable to determine a height of a sample surface region from data related to the position of the coherence peak.

24. A correlator in accordance with claim 23, wherein there are four groups of correlation function data with each group each having four pairs of first and second indices and the correlation processor is arranged to carry out the first to fourth steps until, for every fourth one of a number of the intensity values, a memory location corresponding to the intensity value contains first and second correlation elements with the first and second correlation elements representing the sum of multiplication elements resulting from multiplying each of a s