Applications of Scanning Acoustic Microscopy - Survey and New Aspects

Although the technique of scanning acoustic microscopy was introduced more than a decade ago, there still is a general lack of wide-spread applications research due to the limited number of instru- ments worldwide. To enlarge the spectrum of applications, this contri- bution presents selected results of work in materials science (ceramics, single crystals, polymers, thin ams, and integrated circuits) and biol- ogy (living cells, mucous coats, and cuticle structures). and an opening angle of 100" are used. The broadband design of the matching network and transducer and anti- reflection coating enables the frequency range to be cov- ered by two acoustic objectives, operating from 0.8 to 1.3 and 1.3 to 2.0 GHz, respectively. The x- and y-scanning is performed by electromagnetic coil systems driving the objective in a raster mode (x-scanning frequency locked