Different Types of Microscopes | Types of Microscopes

5) USB microscope

Magnification: Up to 200x.
Depth of field: Relatively small.
Uses: Document examination, detail work, hobbies, education, entertainment
Advantages: Can be used on almost any object and requires no preparation of the specimen. Inexpensive. Can usually be purchased for under $130 USD.
Disadvantages: Not well suited to the same scientific applications as other optical microscopes.

6) Transmission electron microscope

Magnification: A series of electrostatic and electromagnetic lenses act on an electron beam to produce up to 50 million times magnification
Depth of field: Very small.
Uses: Microbiology, pathology, crystallography
Advantages: Very high resolution.
Disadvantages: Requires extensive specimen preparation, including staining and sectioning with an ultramicrotome. Cannot observe the surface of objects.Very specialized equipment that requires a partial vacuum.

7) Scanning electron microscope

Magnification: Electrostatic and electromagnetic lenses, as with a TEM. Magnification ranges from 25x to 250,000x.
Depth of field: Large compared to that of a transmission electron microscope.
Uses: Biology, microbiology, geology, nanotechnology, crystallography
Advantages: Can view objects' three-dimensional surface. Also, an SEM can provide information about the specimen's elemental composition.
Disadvantages: As with TEM, requires specialized equipment and a partial vacuum. Cannot be used on living specimens.

8) Scanning probe microscope

Magnification: Uses no lenses at all. Instead, the image is formed by making physical contact with a specimen with a probe, which moves across the specimen in a raster pattern. Scanning probe microscopes can detect features as small as a few picometers in width. (A picometer is a trillionth of a meter, or a thousandth of a nanometer.)
Depth of field: Varies according to technique.
Uses: Nanotechnology, biology, microbiology, molecular biology, pathology, food research
Advantages: Unparalleled resolution. The physical interaction between the probe and specimen can be used to change the specimen, for example by etching it, in a process called nanolithography.
Disadvantages: Image acquisition is slow and the image size is small. Solid-solid and liquid-liquid interfaces provide a challenge.

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2 Comments

Jul 8, 2009 1:26 AM

M B Awan

OPTICAL & STEREO MICROSCOPES

Please let me about the subject items. If I forward the requred specifications of the same can you help me to opt the correct and the best one?

OPTICAL MICROSCOPE:

Basic Magnification: 100x - 1000x
Eye pieces : WF 10xeyepieces paired (field of view

Thanks

Jun 24, 2009 12:03 AM

bilat

lol.....

hey you your eight kinds of microscope is wrong.....you don't have the compound and comparison microscope....

Comparison of Eight Different Types of Microscopes (Page 2 of 2)

5) USB microscope

6) Transmission electron microscope

7) Scanning electron microscope

8) Scanning probe microscope

2 Comments