Theoretical considerations for a new tolerance system to characterise technical surfaces in the micro- and nanometer scale

Today's measurement and inspection tools are able to characterize surface structures down to a spatial resolution of a few nanometers. This led to a capability that partly allowed the use of measurement instruments in the production process. Although the measurement instruments have advanced to powerful tools in imaging structures down to the nanometer scale, the properties of engineering surfaces are still described by measurement standards mainly focusing on workpieces and surface defects in the macro- and micrometer scale. The consequence is that measurement standards and parameters used today do no longer meet the high demands on sample size and surface quality. Therefore a clearly defined, effective and widely accepted tolerance system for the micro- and nanometer scale has to be established.