Optical microscopy
Various optical microscopes are available in our Surface Technology Laboratory. Some of them are equipped with a CCD camera connected to a PC to capture images in common file formats. Optical microscopy is used to
- determine the dimensions of surface structures in the micrometre range
- evaluate the surface quality (dirt, scratches, cracks,... )
MethodOpen areaClose area
In simplified terms, a light microscope can be described as consisting of two collimating lenses: The first lens (objective) produces a real intermediate image of an object close to the focal plane of the second lens (eyepiece). When looking through the eyepiece, one thus perceives the highly magnified virtual image of the object "at infinity". The total magnification is the product of the magnifications of the objective and eyepiece. With a simple light microscope, which works with wavelengths in the range visible to humans, a maximum magnification of 1500 times can be achieved with a resolution limit of approx. 0.2 µm.
