A profilometer is a measuring instrument used to measure a surface's profile, in order to quantify its roughness. In Contact Profilometry a diamond stylus is moved vertically in contact with a sample and then moved laterally across the sample for a specified distance and specified contact force. A profilometer can measure small surface variations in vertical stylus displacement as a function of position. A typical profilometer can measure small vertical features ranging in height from 10 nm to 1 mm. The height position of the diamond stylus generates an analog signal which is converted into a digital signal, stored, analyzed, and displayed. Advantages of contact profilometers include acceptance, surface independence, resolution, it is a direct technique with no modeling required.