Optical Microscopy (OM) Analysis
Technical Principle
The imaging principle of optical microscope is to utilize the visible light irradiation on the surface of the specimen to cause local scattering or reflection to form different contrasts, however, because the wavelength of visible light is as high as 4,000-7,000 angstroms, it is naturally the worst in terms of resolution (or discriminatory rate, resolution, which refers to the closest distance between the two points that can be discriminated). Under general operation, since the discrimination rate of the naked eye is only 0.2 mm, when the optimal resolution of the optical microscope is only 0.2 um, the theoretical maximum magnification is only 1,000 X. The magnification is limited, but the field of view is, on the contrary, the largest among all kinds of imaging systems, which explains that the observation of the optical microscope can, in fact, still provide a lot of preliminary structural information.
Types of Machines
Analyzing Applications
Although the magnification and resolution of optical microscopes cannot meet the needs of surface observation of many materials, they are still widely used in the following applications, such as:
Cross-sectional structural observation of components;
Plane-type delayer structure analysis and observation;
Observation of Precipitate Free Zone;
Observation of poor alignment and overetch indentations;
Study of Oxidation Enhanced Stacking Faults (OSF).
