Digital imaging for scanning electron microscopy

Abstract

The development and application of digital imaging technology has been one of themajor advancements in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) during the past several years.This digital revolution has been brought about by significant progress in semiconductortechnology, notably the availability of less expensive, high-density memory chips and thedevelopment of inexpensive, high-speed, analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters,mass storage, and high-performance central processing units. This paper reviews a numberof the advantages presented by digital imaging as applied to the SEM and describes a systemdeveloped at the National Institute of Standards and Technology for this purpose.