Determining optimum red filter slide distance on creating 3D electron microscope images using anaglyph method

Abstract

Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is a proven instrument for analyzing material in which a 2D image of an object is produced. However, the optimization of a 3D image in the SEM system is usually difficult and costly. There is a simple method to produce a 3D image by using two light sources with a red and a blue filter combined in a certain angle. In this experiment, the authors conducted a simulation of the 3D image formation using anaglyph method by finding the optimum point of shifting the red and blue filters in an SEM image. The method used in this experiment was an image processing that employed a digital manipulation on a certain deviation distance of the central point of the main object. The simulation result of an SEM image with a magnification of 5000 times showed an optimal 3D effect that was achieved when the red filter was shifted by 1 μm to the right and the blue filter was shifted by 1 µm to the left from the central position. The result of this simulation can be used to understand better the viewing angle and the optimal position of the two light sources, i.e. red and blue filter pairs. The produced 3D image can be clearly seen using 3D glasses.