High Spatial Resolution

Spatial resolution is the ability of the measurement system to differentiate between objects with high accuracy. Therefore, high spatial resolution is important for samples that contain small features that need to be identified or quantified. Although achieving the highest resolution possible for the system is alluring, it is usually best to optimize spatial resolution for the sample instead. This is because, similar to other characterization methods, spatial resolution usually comes as a tradeoff to other scanning priorities (e.g. temporal resolution and signal-to-noise ratio). The field of view of a scan is one of the major contributing factors to the optimization of spatial resolution. A simplistic estimation of resolution based on this correlation is on the Sample Diameter page.