M1A-S.
01
The Enhancement Methods of Resolution and Contrast in Inspection System
Meesuk Jung1
1
Dept. of Nano&Semiconductor Engineering, Tech University of Korea, Siheong, 15073, Korea
*
msoptic@tukorea.ac.kr (e-mail address for corresponding author)
Abstract - Inspection optical system and
microscopy have been researched and
developed to improve resolution and contrast. In
this paper, I would like to explain how to define
the resolution and contrast of the optical system
and how to enhance the resolution and contrast
in the optical system with Illuminated object.
1. Introduction
In general, the observation of transparent live
cells with the Bright-field microscope, which is
differentiated by the difference in absorption in
the cell, is difficult because of low contrast. So
Cells dyed for observation with Bright-field
microscopy. In the inspection optical system, it is
very important to increase the resolution and
contrast in order to inspect very small defects or
particles. In this paper, I will explain what are the
resolution and the contrast, their difference, and
how to enhance them.
2. Discussion
The resolution refers to the minimum distance
that can distinguish between two points. As it is
well known, the resolution of optical system is
defined by NA and wavelength.
(a) (b)
Fig.1 (a)Axial illumination (b) Oblique illumination
One of the ways to Improve the resolution is
to use the oblique illumination for a given optical
system. The larger NA increases the resolution
because the optical system can collect beams
diffracted by objects. Fig.1 shows the effect of
aperture on the resolution of axial and oblique
illumination. For (a), it shows that fine pattern with
large diffraction angle than NA cannot be
resolved due to low NA and axial illumination. For
(b), It can be resolved the fine pattern that cannot
be resolved with axial illumination. The reason is
that the optical system can collect 1st order as
well as 0th order due to the oblique illumination.
Contrast is the difference in the bright and
darkness of the pattern on image, so the higher
the contrast, the clearer the pattern can be
distinguished. The principle of forming an image
is the process of diffraction, refractive and
interference. In other words, the light illuminated
in the specimen is diffracted, and it divided into
non-diffractive and diffractive lights. These lights
get focused on the Image plane by optical system,
where the image is formed by the interference
constructively and destructively between the non-
diffractive and the diffractive light. In this process,
the characteristic is that the non-diffractive and
the diffractive light are separated spatially in the
back focal plane of objective lens. The method of
contrast enhancement is changing the properties
(intensity, phase, polarization) of the non-
diffractive or diffractive light. Dark-field
microscopy, which excludes non-diffractive
(zeroth order) light and collects only diffractive
light, Phase Contrast microscopy, which
enhance contrast by making a phase difference
between non-diffractive and diffractive light with
an annular illumination, Polarized Microscopy,
which uses the polarization change of the light
scattered by diffraction in specimen with linearly
polarized incident light, DIC Microscopy, which
uses the phase difference between the Ordinary
Ray and Extraordinary Ray by Nomarski prism,
are methods to enhance the contrast.
Reference
[1] Tomasz S. Tkaczyk, “Field Guide to
Microscopy”, SPIE--The International Society for
Optical Engineering; Spi edition (2010)