Scanning laser confocal microscopy (SLCM) has become a popular inspection tool in both research laboratories and manufacturing production lines. With a 405 nm laser light source, SLCM combines high-resolution horizontal (XY ~200 nm) and vertical (Z ~10 nm) information to create a 3D image within seconds.

SLCM’s measurement scale overlaps with optical light microscopy (OLM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In addition, there are minimal sample preparation requirements, and the microscopes can accommodate samples with a wide range of shapes, including large sizes. No consumables are required with SLCM, and there’s minimum system maintenance. All these benefits make SLCM a useful inspection tool. The table below summarizes the difference between these four techniques.

Figure 1: Comparing scanning laser confocal, scanning electron, atomic force, and optical light microscopy

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