Verfahren und Vorrichtung zur Erweiterung des Messbereichs bei Nomarski-Mikroskopen

The invention relates to a setup and a process for expanding the measuring range using Nomarski microscopes, whereby polarized illuminating light is split into two wave fronts by at least one element producing a shear amount (Nomarski prism 4), then the wave fronts are guided by a projecting optical element in such a way that illuminating light impinges on the specimen (7), is reflected from there, transverses the projecting optical element and the element producing the shear amount, whereby the two reflected wave fronts are superimposed and are brought into interference by an analyzer (2). The invention is characterized by the fact that, by rotating the specimen (7) in an xy plane about a y axis by an angle of <delta><psi> and by performing a measurement in each of the different angle positions <psi><-1 and <psi>-2, light (intensities I<-1, I<-2) is recorded by a receiver (matrix receiver 1) and the inclination angles <psi> (x, y) of the surface elements are determined from the signal s by means of the expanded inclination angle range (e.g., n<---4, ..., n<0, ..., n<+4). With the use of the invention, inclination angles <psi> can be determined unambiguously by surface elements at great intervals, and this corresponds to an expansion of the measuring range of the Nomarski microscope by, for example, a factor of 5.