KCS

Light microscopes can obtain color information but do not provide resolution below submicron. The electron microscope can provide much higher resolution information in nanometer scale, but it has the disadvantage that the image is grayscale. As a result of changing the source of the microscope from light to electrons, high resolution was achieved, but the most important visual information, the color, was lost. In order to solve these problems, recently a Correlative Light and Electron Microscope(CLEM) has been developed by integrating an light microscope and an electron microscope, and related researches have been actively conducted. Capability of acquiring color-based information as well as nanometer sacle surface information of a sample gives users a new possibility in their research. Previously, samples were observed by s light microscope, and then transferred to an electron microscope. However, in this case, the time and space efficiency is poor, and the sample can be damaged during the transfer of the sample. However, the microscope developed by ourself has the advantage of reducing the chance of sample damage and observation time because there is no need to move the sample by operating the light microscope and electron microscope simultaneously inside the vacuum. For the identification of defects such as quantum dots and LEDs, a resolution of less than a micrometer(μm) is required, but an light microscope can not show microscopic defects due to the resolution limit. Since the light and the electron beam provide complementary information, it is required to develop a fusion microscope that observes the sample with visible light and enlarges the suspected region using electrons. In this study, we introduce an iCLEM that can present images in real time by integrating light microscope and electron microscope into one system. The light path of the light microscope is positioned inside the optics of the electron microscope so that the coaxial alignment is achieved. This makes it possible to acquire images of fluorescent images and electron microscopes at high magnifications without moving the sample in the vacuum chamber. The iCLEM may provide researchers with diverse applications in inspection and analysis where a wider resolution spectrum is required in the future.