A 3D micro tactile sensor for dimensional metrology of micro structure with nanometer precision

•A mechanic model is developed for 3D dimensional metrology of micro structure.•The experimental results show 5nm and 10nm resolution in z and x/y direction respectively.•The 3D micro tactile sensor has working range of 4.7μm and cross talk of 0.5%. In this paper, a mechanic model is developed for the stiffness and stress of a 3D micro tactile sensor for 3D dimensional metrology of micro structure, which is validated by the finite element analysis (FEA). The design parameters of the sensor have been investigated using ANSYS. Some experiments by integrating the sensor with a 3D dimensional metrological positioning platform are performed to validate the design, which shows 5nm and 10nm resolution in z and x/y direction respectively, working range of 4.7μm and cross talk of 0.5%.