JP4792239B2 - Scanning confocal laser microscope - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a scanning confocal laser microscope, and more particularly to control of focused light on a sample and image rotation in a scanning confocal laser microscope.

  A scanning confocal microscope illuminates the surface of an observation sample (hereinafter referred to as a sample) in a point shape with a point light source, and again transmits or reflects light, reflected light, fluorescence, etc. from the illuminated sample surface. It is a microscope using a confocal effect that collects light and forms an image on a detector having a pinhole aperture and obtains luminance information of the image formation by this detector. FIG. 10 is a schematic configuration of a general scanning confocal microscope. The point light emitted from the point light source 401 passes through the half mirror 402 and is then point-formed on the surface of the sample 404 by the objective lens 403 whose aberration has been corrected. Then, the reflected light from the sample 404 of the point-like illumination passes through the objective lens 403 again, and then is reflected by the half mirror 402 to be condensed. A pinhole 405 is disposed at the condensing position, and the reflected light that has passed through the pinhole 405 is detected by a photodetector 406. Here, the condensing position by the objective lens 403 is at a position optically conjugate with the pinhole 405, and when the sample 404 is at the condensing position by the objective lens 403, the reflected light from the sample 404 is on the pinhole 405. The light is condensed and passes through the pinhole 405. When the sample 404 is at a position deviated from the condensing position by the objective lens 403, the reflected light from the sample 404 is not condensed on the pinhole 405 and does not pass through the pinhole 405.

  Such point-like illumination is two-dimensionally scanned over the entire surface measurement region of the sample 404 by raster scanning or the like, and the detection signal of the reflected light by the photodetector 406 is displayed as an image, whereby the two-dimensional surface of the sample 404 is displayed. An image is obtained. That is, the surface information of the sample 404 only at the condensing position of the objective lens 403 is obtained, and the surface information obtained by optically slicing the sample 404 is obtained. For this two-dimensional scanning, for example, a galvano scanner or a resonant scanner is used in the X direction, and a galvano scanner is used in the Y direction.

  In such a scanning confocal microscope, it is possible to perform scanning that can obtain an image focused on the entire surface of the sample 404 having a step due to the confocal action (hereinafter referred to as extended scanning). This utilizes the fact that the luminance of the sample 404 obtained at the focal position becomes the maximum luminance, and the luminance information of the sample 404 obtained at a certain objective lens 403 (or sample 404) position and the objective lens 403 (or sample 404). ) Is compared with the luminance information of the sample 404 obtained by slightly shifting the position in the optical axis direction, and the pixel with the higher luminance is left among the same pixels of these two images. The image of the sample 404 obtained in the optical axis direction range becomes a two-dimensional image focused on the entire surface of the sample 404. In addition, when it is determined that the luminance is high during the pixel comparison, information on the height (unevenness) of the sample 404 is finally obtained by storing the position in the optical axis direction at that time.

By the way, when the length of a certain structure on the sample, for example, the line width or the like is to be measured, if the measurement direction does not coincide with the axial direction of the laser scanning, the structure is inclined as shown in FIG. Will be displayed. Although exaggerated in FIG. 11, in this state, an error (error) of only 1 / cos θ is potentially included in the measurement result. Although it is possible to measure obliquely, it is disadvantageous when attention is paid to the accuracy of measurement data such as repeatability. In order to reduce this, it is necessary to rotate the measurement direction and the laser scanning direction relative to each other. This method can either (a) rotate the sample on the stage or (b)
As described above, there is a method in which a rotator prism is inserted into the optical path, and the sample is irradiated with rotation about the optical axis of the laser two-dimensional scanning pattern itself.

  However, (a) In the case of rotating the sample on the stage, it is very difficult to rotate the sample so as not to lose sight of the object in the field of view of several tens to several hundreds of μm under the microscope observation. It can be said that the operability is extremely bad. Even if a rotating stage is used, it is difficult to deny the possibility that the part to be measured moves in an arc if it is not at the center of the rotating stage. The center of the stage must coincide with the accuracy within the field of view.

On the other hand, (a) when a rotator prism that rotates the laser scanning axis is used, the laser scanning side rotates with respect to the sample, so these problems can be avoided. However, a prism is inserted in the portion where two-dimensional scanning is performed. For convenience, the optical system cannot be miniaturized. Currently, it is difficult to actively adopt a device that is required to be downsized. In addition to this, as a method of rotating the laser scanning axis, there is a method of performing vector scanning by controlling X scanning and Y scanning in a two-dimensional scanning means. However, the scanning mechanism capable of vector scanning is only configured with galvano scanners that scan at a relatively low speed. In order to increase the scanning speed, the X scanning mechanism is configured to use a resonant galvano scanner for X scanning. Therefore, it is impossible to directly rotate the laser scanning axis by controlling the scanner.
JP-A-9-197279

  Therefore, in view of the above-described problems, the present invention is directed to a scanning type that reduces the measurement error that may occur depending on the relative angle between the arrangement of the sample and the laser scanning in line width measurement on the sample. It is to provide a confocal laser microscope.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, in the scanning confocal microscope of the present invention, the irradiation shape of the laser scanning region is set so that the X-direction laser scanning direction is parallel to the measurement target of the sample placed on the stage. The parallelogram is cut out while shifting the image start position of the X scan according to the amount to be rotated from the scanning area, so that the drawing is finally rotated by the necessary amount around the optical axis. . Alternatively, in the scanning confocal microscope of the present invention, the laser scanning range can be rotated about the optical axis by using an offset function capable of rotating the X-direction laser scanning direction about the scanning axis, and the measurement target is When tilted, the scanning area is rotated around the optical axis according to the tilt.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a laser light source, a two-dimensional scanning means for the laser light emitted to X scanning and Y scanning to the sample from the laser light source, a laser beam emitted from the laser light source sample An objective lens for condensing light, a light receiving means for receiving reflected light from the sample and outputting it as an image signal, a data collecting means for collecting image signals output from the light receiving means and outputting image data, a scanning confocal laser microscope and a two-dimensional scanning control means for the X scanning direction is controlled in parallel of the two-dimensional scanning means relative to the measurement target region before Symbol sample, the data collection It means so is the X direction and the Y direction of the image data output from the right angle, according to the Y scan position of the two-dimensional scanning unit, cut out so as to shift the image display start position of the scan region Characterized in that it comprises an image generating means for generating display image. This makes it possible to keep the laser scanning direction parallel to the measurement target and measurement site on the sample, and to reduce the occurrence of measurement errors.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a laser light source, a two-dimensional scanning unit that irradiates the sample with laser light emitted from the laser light source, and an objective that focuses the laser light emitted from the laser light source onto the sample. A scanning-type common unit comprising: a lens; a light receiving unit that receives reflected light from the sample and outputs it as an image signal; and a data collection unit that collects the image signal output from the light receiving unit and outputs image data. A focus laser microscope, comprising: a scanning mechanism offset means for rotating the resonance type scanning mechanism itself of the two-dimensional scanning means about its vibration axis in accordance with the inclination of the measurement target of the sample. . As a result, the modulation in the Y direction scanning component of the X direction scanning is realized as the rotation of the X direction scanning mechanism itself, so that the image can be rotated even with the resonance type scanning mechanism.

  According to the present invention, in a scanning confocal laser microscope, it becomes possible to keep the direction of laser scanning parallel to the measurement object and measurement site on the sample, thereby reducing the occurrence of measurement error of the cos θ component. It is possible.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
First, FIG. 1 shows two principle configurations of the scanning confocal laser microscope of the present invention.
FIG. 1A shows a first principle configuration. First, the sample 0 is irradiated with laser light emitted from the laser light source 1 via the two-dimensional scanning means 2 and the objective lens 3. At this time, the two-dimensional scanning control unit 4 controls the scanning area of the two-dimensional scanning unit 2 according to the inclination of the measurement target on the sample 0. The reflected light from the sample 0 is received by the light receiving means 5 through the objective lens 3 and the two-dimensional scanning means 2, and the optical signal is converted into an electrical signal and output. The output signal is output as image data by the data collection unit 6, and the image data is output by the image generation unit 7 according to the inclination of the measurement target on the sample 0. A display image is generated by cutting out so as to be shifted.

  FIG. 1B shows a second principle configuration. As in FIG. 1A, first, the sample 0 is irradiated with the laser light emitted from the laser light source 1 through the two-dimensional scanning means 2 and the objective lens 3. At this time, the scanning mechanism offset unit 8 rotates the resonance type scanning mechanism itself of the two-dimensional scanning unit 3 around the vibration axis according to the inclination of the measurement target on the sample 0. The reflected light from the sample 0 is received by the light receiving means 5 through the objective lens 3 and the two-dimensional scanning means 2, and the optical signal is converted into an electrical signal and output. The output signal is output as image data by the data collecting means 6.

Hereinafter, each example of the above-described principle configuration will be described in detail as a first example and a second example in order.
FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the first embodiment of the scanning confocal laser microscope of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 100 denotes a microscope main body, and the microscope main body 100 is provided with the following. First, the laser light source 10 generates laser light as spot light (focused light) for scanning the surface of the sample 0. A mirror 11 is disposed on the optical path of the laser light source 10 and guides the laser light from the laser light source 10 to the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12. The two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 two-dimensionally scans the laser light from the laser light source 10 obtained through the mirror 11 as spot light in the XY directions under the control of the two-dimensional scanning drive control circuit 13. The spot light that is two-dimensionally scanned via the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 is irradiated onto the sample 0 placed on the stage 16 via the objective lens 14. In this case, the objective lens 14 is attached to the revolver 15. The revolver 15 holds a plurality of objective lenses 14 having different magnifications. Among these objective lenses 14, a lens having a desired magnification can be set in the observation optical path of the microscope, and an instruction from the focus moving mechanism 23 can be set. Thus, the objective lens 14 can be moved in the optical axis direction. The focal point moving mechanism 23 is connected to the revolver 15 so that the movement of the revolver 15 can be controlled by an instruction from the computer 21.

  On the other hand, the reflected light from the sample 0 returns to the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 through the objective lens 14, and is returned from the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 to the half mirror 17. The half mirror 17 is a semi-transparent mirror that is provided on the outgoing light path of the laser light source 10 with respect to the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 and guides the reflected light from the sample 0 obtained through the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 to the detection system. is there. The reflected light from the sample 0 obtained through the half mirror 17 passes through the lens 18 and is received by the photodetector 20 through the pinhole of the pinhole plate 19. The lens 18 condenses the reflected light from the sample 0, and the pinhole plate 19 has a pinhole having a required diameter, and is arranged at the front surface of the light receiving surface of the photodetector 20 and at the focal position of the lens 18. Has been. The light detector 20 is composed of a light detecting element that converts light obtained through the pinhole of the pinhole plate 19 into an electric signal corresponding to the light amount. A signal photoelectrically converted by the photodetector 20 is sent to a computer together with a timing signal from the two-dimensional scanning drive control circuit 13, imaged by the computer 21, and displayed on the monitor 22 as surface information of the sample 0.

  The computer 21 includes a two-dimensional scanning instruction unit 30 that instructs the two-dimensional scanning drive control circuit 13 to perform scanning, a data collection unit 32 that outputs a signal output from the photodetector 20 as image data, An image generation unit for generating a display image by performing image processing on the image data output from the data collection unit 32 based on information on a scanning region instructed by the two-dimensional scanning instruction unit 30 to the two-dimensional scanning drive control circuit 13 33 and the above-described focal point movement mechanism 23 are provided with a focal point movement instructing unit 31 for instructing movement of the revolver 15 and the like, and appropriately send an instruction to the microscope body or receive an output signal from the microscope. Or processing.

  In FIG. 2, the two-dimensional scanning unit 2 shown in FIG. 1A corresponds to the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12, and the two-dimensional scanning control unit 4 includes a two-dimensional scanning drive control circuit 13 and a two-dimensional scanning instruction unit 30. The light receiving means 5 corresponds to the photodetector 20, the data collecting means 6 corresponds to the data collecting section 32, and the image generating means 7 corresponds to the image generating section 33. The two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 is a scanning mechanism in which at least one axis is a resonance type.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating in detail the important part of the scanning confocal laser microscope of the first embodiment. In the figure, the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 has an X scanner 201 made up of, for example, a resonant scanner for scanning in the X-axis direction, and a Y scanner 203 made up of, for example, a galvanometer mirror, for scanning in the Y-axis. The main scanning of the two-dimensional scanning is performed, and the scanning timing signal (X.SYNC) is continuously sent to the timing circuit 205. The timing circuit 205 outputs a position signal (X.POS), a sampling clock (X.CLK), a horizontal synchronization signal (/ HD), and an image valid signal (/ DE) in synchronization with the scanning cycle of the X scanner 201. ing. On the other hand, the Y scanner 203 is driven by the Y driver 204 in accordance with the sawtooth wave generated by the Y waveform generation circuit 206, and performs two-dimensional scanning sub-scanning. In the Y waveform generation circuit 206, this sub-scanning waveform (Y.CTRL) is generated in response to the horizontal synchronization signal (/ HD) and the position signal (X.POS) generated by the timing circuit 205, and at the same time. A vertical synchronization signal (/ VD) is also output for each waveform period corresponding to one image update period.

  The laser light is emitted from a laser light source (not shown in FIG. 3), is two-dimensionally scanned by the X scanner 201 and the Y scanner 203, passes through the objective lens 14, and illuminates the sample 0. The laser light reflected by the sample 0 passes through the objective lens 14 again, returns to a light beam whose position does not move by the X scanner 201 and the Y scanner 203, and reaches the photodetector 20. In the photodetector 20, the reflected light from the sample 0 is photoelectrically converted and converted into an electric signal corresponding to the amount of light. The head amplifier 207 amplifies this electric signal to a predetermined magnitude and sends it to the computer 21 as an image signal. In the computer 21, the image signal is converted into digital image data by the A / D converter 208 in synchronization with the sampling clock (X.CLK) signal from the timing circuit 205 which is a sampling signal. Although not shown in FIG. 3, the image data is then processed to generate an output image, and further, a horizontal synchronizing signal (/ HD) and an image display valid signal (/ DE) from the timing circuit 205 are generated. The surface information of the sample 0 is displayed on the monitor 22 based on the vertical synchronizing signal (/ VD).

Here, a process for causing the measurement target on the observation image (image output to the monitor) to be displayed horizontally will be described, taking as an example the case where the measurement target on the sample 0 is tilted.
It is assumed that the measurement target portion of the sample 0 that is seen in an enlarged manner is the width of the small rectangular portion at the center as shown in FIG. When arranged on the stage 16, it is inclined by an angle θ (−θ in the figure) with respect to the two-dimensional laser scanning region, and is downwardly inclined with respect to the large rectangular image region indicated by the broken line in FIG. 4. Assume that the display is tilted.

From this state, first, the laser scanning is made parallel to the measurement target portion of the sample 0, and then the observation image obtained is made horizontal.
The sawtooth waveform on the right side of FIG. 4 is normally output from the Y waveform generation circuit 206, but the Y-direction scanning at this time is a large rectangular area indicated by a broken line. On the other hand, since the X scanner 201 is a resonance type, the X scanning position signal (X.POS) from the timing circuit 205 has a sine wave shape. Upon receiving the X scanning position signal (X.POS), the Y waveform generation circuit 206 modulates the Y scanning sawtooth wave with the X scanning position signal (X.POS). Then, the waveform as shown in FIG. 4 is obtained, and the laser scanning region for the sample 0 becomes a parallelogram with a downward slope as shown by a solid line on the left side of FIG. Here, the change of the rotation angle θ can be dealt with by changing the modulation degree (amplitude) in the X scanning position signal (X.POS).

  Thus, the inclination of the measurement target of sample 0 and the angle of X scanning could be matched. However, if the image obtained by this is displayed on the monitor 22 as it is, the image data from the left end to the right end of each X direction scan will be displayed with the left end aligned, so the two-dimensional scan is distorted into a parallelogram. Therefore, the displayed shape of the sample 0 is distorted on the opposite side (in this example, a parallelogram). Therefore, the following processing is performed so that the shape of the displayed sample 0 is restored. That is, the following processing is processing performed by the image generation unit 33.

  If the shaded triangular area shown in FIG. 5A disappears, it is equivalent to the Y-direction scanning being performed at right angles to the X-direction scanning (the completed image in FIG. 5B). That is, the image display start position may be shifted in accordance with the change in the Y-direction scanning position. At this time, the start position of the image display valid signal (/ DE) output from the timing circuit 205 can be obtained from the following equation.

Where X _{n is the} number of pixels shifted in the X direction on the nth line
Y _n : n-th line (1 ≦ Y _n ≦ Y)
Y: Number of display lines
θ: Image rotation angle For example, FIG. 6 shows an example in which the image display range is an area of 1024 pixels × 768 pixels and the image is to be rotated by θ. 6A shows an example of θ = −10 °, FIG. 6B shows an example of θ = −20 °, and FIG. 6C shows an example of θ = + 15 °.

  In the case of FIG. 6A, the first line is displayed as effective image data from the 134th pixel onward according to the equation (1). The center 384th line is displayed from the 68th pixel onward, and the final 768th line is displayed from the first pixel. As a result, the display range in the X direction, that is, the horizontal width of the display image is reduced by 133 pixels to 891 pixels, but an image with corrected distortion can be obtained.

  Similarly, in the case of FIG. 6B, the first line is displayed from the 263th pixel onward, the central 384th line is displayed from the 132th pixel onward, and the 768th line is displayed from the first pixel. In the case of FIG. 6C, the first line is displayed from the first pixel onward, the central 384th line is displayed from the 100th pixel onward, and the 768th line is displayed from the 199th pixel onward.

  In the description of this embodiment, the timing circuit 205 has been described as adjusting the / DE signal. However, image data is generated from the parallelogram image data by sequentially shifting the display start position by software processing. May be.

  Further, although the number of display pixels in the X direction is reduced according to the rotation angle of the image, the measurement direction of the sample 0 and the adjustment angle of the laser scanning are usually several degrees or less in view of the object of the present invention, Correcting a tilt of several tens of degrees is not very appropriate as a measurement condition. If the maximum correction of ± 45 ° is performed, the number of pixels is 482, and the display range is reduced to about half. Therefore, there is no problem if the magnification selection of the objective lens 14 and the zoom in the laser scanning range are adjusted so that the width of the measurement target part is within a range of about half or less of the image. If the number of display pixels in the X direction is reduced with respect to the display range of 1024 × 768 pixels, if dummy data (for example, black level) is added before and after the display range, display can be performed before and after image rotation. The center position can also be prevented from shifting.

The first embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 7 shows the configuration of a second embodiment of the scanning confocal laser microscope of the present invention. The configuration of FIG. 7 is almost the same as the configuration of the first embodiment (FIG. 2), but there are only two differences. The first difference is that a scanning mechanism offset control circuit 24 is added, and although not clearly shown in FIG. 7, the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 rotates the scanning mechanism itself such as an offset motor. Is added. Thereby, it is possible to rotate the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12 itself according to the inclination of the measurement target. The second difference is that the image data output from the data collection unit 32 is output to the monitor 22 as it is. In the second embodiment, since the two-dimensional scanning is performed by rotating the scanning mechanism itself according to the measurement object, a distorted image is not obtained as in the first embodiment. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform image processing as shown in FIG. Therefore, the image data output from the data collection unit 32 is output to the monitor 22 as it is.

  7 is compared with the principle configuration shown in FIG. 1B, the two-dimensional scanning means 2 corresponds to the two-dimensional scanning mechanism 12, and the scanning mechanism offset means 8 scans with the two-dimensional scanning drive control circuit 13. It corresponds to the mechanism offset control circuit 24 and the two-dimensional scanning instruction unit 30, the light receiving means 5 corresponds to the photodetector 20, and the data collection means 6 corresponds to the data collection unit 32.

FIG. 8 shows an important part of the scanning confocal laser microscope of the second embodiment. In the second embodiment of the present invention, an X offset function is added.
That is, the X offset driver 302 drives the X offset motor 303 according to an instruction from the Y waveform generation circuit 301. The X offset motor 303 is attached to the X scanner 201 itself, and is attached so that the X scanner 201 can be rotated about the scanning axis of the X scanner 201. The Y waveform generation circuit 301 is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment, but an X offset function is added.

  The basic operation of the microscope of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, but modulation with the Y-direction scanning component for the X-direction scanning is applied to the X offset motor 303 as shown in FIG. Do. As a result, the optical laser scanning center position can be shifted left and right even when using the X scanner 201 that is a resonance type and cannot be offset at the scanning center, and the number of pixels in the X direction can be reduced. It is possible to rotate the laser scanning range around the optical axis without accompanying. That is, when the small rectangle at the center shown in the upper left of FIG. 9 is the measurement object, the scanning area of the microscope of the second embodiment is a large rectangular box with a lower right side indicated by a solid line, and the scanning area when no offset is applied. It is possible to scan without changing the area (a rectangle indicated by a broken line).

  The scanning confocal laser microscope of the present invention has been described in detail above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above description, and various configurations or shapes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. It goes without saying that it can be taken.

(A) It is a figure which shows the 1st principle structure of this invention. (B) It is a figure which shows the 2nd principle structure of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of 1st Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the detail of a structure of 1st Example. It is a figure explaining the scanning of the microscope of 1st Example. It is a figure explaining the production | generation of a display image. It is a figure which shows the example of image rotation. It is a figure which shows the structure of 2nd Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the detail of a structure of 2nd Example. It is a figure explaining the scanning of the microscope of 2nd Example. It is a figure which shows the structure of a general scanning confocal microscope. It is a figure explaining a measurement error.

Explanation of symbols

0 Sample 1 Light source 2 Two-dimensional scanning means 3 Objective lens 4 Two-dimensional scanning means 5 Light receiving means 6 Data collecting means 7 Image generating means 8 Scanning mechanism offset means 10 Laser light source 11 Mirror 12 Two-dimensional scanning mechanism 13 Two-dimensional scanning drive control circuit DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 Objective lens 15 Revolver 16 Stage 17 Half mirror 18 Lens 19 Pinhole 20 Photo detector 21 Computer 22 Monitor 23 Focus moving mechanism 24 Scan mechanism offset control circuit 30 Two-dimensional scanning instruction part 31 Focus movement instruction part 32 Data acquisition part 33 Image Generation unit 100 Scanning confocal microscope 201 X scanner 202 X driver 203 Y scanner 204 Y driver 205 Timing circuit 206 Y waveform generation circuit 207 Head amplifier 208 A / D converter 301 Y waveform generation circuit 302 X offset driver 303 X off Set motor 401 Point light source 402 Half mirror 403 Objective lens 404 Sample 405 Pinhole 406 Photodetector

Claims (4)

A laser light source, a two-dimensional scanning means for the laser light emitted to X scanning and Y scanning to the sample from the laser light source, an objective lens for focusing the laser beam emitted from the laser light source to the sample, the A scanning confocal laser microscope comprising: a light receiving unit that receives reflected light from a sample and outputs it as an image signal; and a data collection unit that collects the image signal output from the light receiving unit and outputs image data. There,
And two-dimensional scanning control means for the X scanning direction of the two-dimensional scanning means is controlled so as to be parallel to the measurement target sections of the pre-Symbol samples,
The image display start position in the scanning area is shifted according to the Y scanning position of the two-dimensional scanning means so that the X direction and the Y direction of the image data output from the data collecting means are perpendicular to each other. Image generation means for cutting out and generating a display image;
A scanning confocal laser microscope comprising: It said scanning mechanism for performing at least X scanning of the two-dimensional scanning means, according to claim 1 confocal laser scanning microscope, wherein it is a resonance type.   The scanning confocal laser microscope according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the shape of the scanning region of the two-dimensional scanning means is a parallelogram parallel to the inclination of the measurement target of the sample. A laser light source, two-dimensional scanning means for irradiating the sample with laser light emitted from the laser light source, an objective lens for condensing the laser light emitted from the laser light source on the sample, and reflected light from the sample A scanning confocal laser microscope comprising: a light receiving unit that receives and outputs an image signal; and a data collection unit that collects the image signal output from the light receiving unit and outputs image data,
Scanning mechanism offset means for rotating the resonance type scanning mechanism itself of the two-dimensional scanning means around its vibration axis in accordance with the inclination of the measurement target of the sample;
A scanning confocal laser microscope comprising:

Images