Optical microscope illumination analysis using through-focus scanning optical microscopy

Noise analysis for through-focus scanning optical microscopy.

A systematic noise-analysis study for optimizing data collection and data processing parameters for through-focus scanning optical microscopy (TSOM) is presented. TSOM is a three-dimensional shape metrology method that can achieve sub-nanometer measurement sensitivity by analyzing sets of images acquired through focus using a conventional optical microscope. We show that the best balance betwee...

Nanoscale Measurements With a Through-Focus Scanning Optical Microscope

Introduction In the current world of nanotechnology, fast and reliable measurement of nanoscale features is extremely useful. It is further advantageous if the analytical tools used are cost-effective and have high throughput, such as optics-based tools. In conventional optical microscopy, it is usually deemed necessary to acquire images at the “best-focus” position for meaningful analysis. How...

The Scanning Optical Microscope

Instead of forming an entire image at one instant, a scanning optical microscope (SOM) scans a beam of light across specimen in a regular pattern, or raster, and forms its image point by point. A point of light is focused to a diffraction-limited spot on the sample by the objective lens. An image is built up point by point by a detector, either below the slide (if the microscope is exclusively ...

Near-field scanning optical microscope probe analysis.

In this article results of a comparison of two NSOM probe characterization methods are presented. Scanning electron microscopy analysis combined with electromagnetic field modeling using the finite difference in time domain method are compared with measured far-field radiation diagrams of NSOM probes. It is shown that measurement of far-field radiation diagrams can be an efficient tool for dail...

A scanning slit optical microscope.