Microgeometry of Contact Surfaces Through Anisotropy Assessment

In order to predict accurately the electrical and thermal characteristics of contacting Surfaces, a surface and thus threedimensional (rather than a profile-based) specification of the contacting microgeometries is required. A method is described by which a three-dimensional assessment of the surface microgeometry is made using a minimum number of radial traverses of the surface· Hitherto, many parallel traverses had to be recorded for the same purpose. A computer simulation shows that the proposed method is highly promising.