DIFFRACTION SPECIMENS FOR TESTING THE OBJECTIVES OF LIGHT MICROSCOPES, BASED ON POLYSTYRENE MONODISPERSE LATEX

This paper describes a technique for fabricating test structures of th e ''starry sky'' type. Latex spheres 0.1-1.0 mu m in diameter were ads orbed on the surface of a slide and were coated with an aluminum film. After the latex spheres were removed, holes of the corresponding diam eter were formed. Electron-microscope images of holes with various dia meters are shown. Recommendations are given for using the test specime ns to monitor the quality of microscope objectives with various numeri cal apertures.