I'm not familiar with microscope types, features etc. and our R&D group wants to purchase a new microscope to characterize our sensors, materials, etc.
Can anyone recommend a good type or brand? Pros & Cons of various types? Stereoscope, Upright Brightfield, Inverted, Digital?
I hear that some new microscopes even offer profilometry analysis. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hello Fine microscopes for your research can be found in these sats. My recommendation is for Upright and Inverted Light Microscopes:
https://www.zeiss.com/microscopy/int/products/light-microscopes.html
or Laser Scanning Microscopes
https://www.zeiss.com/microscopy/int/products/light-microscopes.html
I wish you success with your choice. Regards Emil Yankov
Dear Mike
The answer to your question is dependent on how high the spatial resolution (SR), of microscopy examinations of the inorganic materials, is required.
In other words, the higher the spatial resolution of the microscope the more microstructure details of the of the inorganic materials will be revealed. So, you can start with an optical microscope (OM) .Then you can use a higher SR microscopy than the OM, i.e., a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Thereafter, you can use a higher SR microscopy than the SEM, i.e., a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) or an atomic force microscopy(AFM). Refer to the links for more details on the above microscopes:
1-https://nanolive.ch/technology-old/optical-microscope/
2-https://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/geochemsheets/techniques/SEM.html
3- https://www.nanosurf.com/en/products?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwZLT2sPL3AIV4SnTCh1EPAa8EAAYASAAEgLPSvD_BwE
Thanks to all for your advice so far. I should have clarified (and have edited my question) that I'm interested in OPTICAL microscopes only. I'm quite familiar with SEM & TEM, but I'm looking for something much lower cost than any EM for quick analysis of surface structure.
To answer my own question: the "Zeiss AxioLab A1 Mat" is an excellent optical microscope for materials analysis. What I learned during my search is that most microscopes use transmission imaging for transparent samples. Materials analysis requires REFLECTIVE imaging to examine the surfaces of non-transparent samples.
Note: reflective optics are typically more expensive than transmission optics.
We shopped around a bit and Nikon and Olympus has some great features, but I found very competitive pricing for the Zeiss 'scope. I've been using it for about a month now and their digital camera and imaging software are AMAZING.
Here's a link to the brochure:
https://applications.zeiss.com/C125792900358A3F/0/90A739972A4DD0EEC12579060047C6E3/$FILE/70-2-0060_e_AXIOLAB_MAT.pdf
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