A recently developed optical‐scatter instrument, the scanning scattering microscope (SSM) produces two‐dimensional images of very small surface features and of variations in surface topography. In its present configuration, the lateral resolution is better than 10 μm and its sensitivity to surface roughness is in the angstrom (rms) range. The performance of the SSM has been demonstrated using calibration gratings, Si(100) surfaces, and Ge thin films grown on silicon; intercomparison also was made with atomic force microscope measurements. These results indicate that this scanned optical technique is a very useful noncontact method for evaluating surface microtopography.