Specialty Microscopes

Microscopes are instruments that magnify images of small objects using lenses as the locus of magnification.  Specialty microscopes are different from garden-variety microscopes in that they are designed for specific applications, or they use specialized techniques or technologies to produce magnification. 

Specialty microscopes application types include life sciences, gemology and metallurgical microscopes, toolmaking, forensics, and semiconductor inspection. Specialty microscopes for biological and life sciences applications include those that transmit light or environmental scanning electron microscopes (SEM).  Gemological microscopes use polarized light with lower magnifying powers to allow for brighter, sharper images combined with a wide field of view. Tool making specialty microscopes are often used for dimensional measurement with lower magnifying powers to allow for brighter, sharper images combined with a wide field of view.  Forensic microscopes are often hands-free, binocular microscopes with lower magnifying powers to allow for brighter, sharper images combined with a wide field of view.  Metallurgical microscopes are often inverted for viewing the bottom of a sample with lower magnifying powers to allow for brighter, sharper images combined with a wide field of view. Semiconductor inspection specialty microscopes used to study the layers in a semiconductor wafer or fabricated IC components.  This inspection type calls for greater precision and throughput.

Some specialty microscopes are differentiated by their methods of producing magnification.  Some of the more common microscope types include acoustic and ultrasonic, microwave, portable field, scanning probe and atomic force types, and laser or confocal specialty microscopes. Acoustic and ultrasonic microscopes use sound waves to create images of the sample.  These types of microscopes can be used to examine delimitations, cracks and other anomalies nondestructively.  Microwave microscopes use electromagnetic radiation, which has a long wavelength (between 1 mm and 30 cm), to study specimens. Portable field specialty microscopes are designed for use outside of the laboratory setting.  They may have a portable energy source, such as a battery, or they may use natural light for illumination.  These microscopes are generally lightweight and handheld.

Scanning probe and atomic force (SPM / AFM) microscopes are used to study surface features by moving a sharp probe over the object's surface (e.g., the scanning tunneling microscope).  Atomic force microscopes enable the user to image the topography of a sample, and to monitor simultaneously ultrasonic surface vibrations in the MHz range. For detection of the distribution of the ultrasonic vibration amplitude, a part of the position-sensing light beam reflected from the cantilever is directed to an external knife-edge detector.

Confocal specialty microscopes or laser microscopes use laser light to image one plane of a specimen at a time.

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