HIGH SPEED PHARMACEUTICAL QUALITY CONTROL METROLOGY

A method and apparatus are directed to characterizing a continuously moving pharmaceutical manufacture via interferometry-based scanning. The method includes forming a depth characterization of the pharmaceutical manufacture along a scan line on the surface of the pharmaceutical manufacture. During the scanning, the pharmaceutical manufacture undergoes continuous motion. The method further includes combining the determined depth characterization along the scan lines of the plurality of scan lines to form a depth map representing at least a depth of a portion associated with a location on the surface of the pharmaceutical manufacture in the third direction on a grid of locations arranged in the first and second directions. Forming the depth characterizations includes scanning a frequency dispersed pulsed optical signal in a first direction across the continuously moving pharmaceutical manufacture, the pharmaceutical manufacture moving in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction. The scanned optical signal forms a scan line on a surface of the pharmaceutical manufacture in a third direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction and the second direction.