The special properties of Scanning Acoustic Microscopy
The exceptional property of the acoustics microscopy is, that the inside structure of opaque specimen can be examined, without having to destroy the specimen.
The contrast of the images is produced by nonhomogenities in the material. The contrast can be explained by the acoustic impedance, which represents the product of sound velocity multiplicated with tha material density. Thus, special information about material disturbances like microcracks, particles, cavities, voids, and delaminations, but also layers transitions, interfaces or grain structures e.g. can be shown with an imaging resolution comparable to the light microscope.
