Confocal laser scanning microscopy measurement of the morphology of vanadium pentoxide nanorods grown by electron beam irradiation or thermal oxidation

Abstract

In order to observe the morphology of nanostructures at the submicroscale, we use a confocal laser scanning (CLS) microscope built in our laboratory. The theoretical resolution of the hand-made CLS microscope is 150 nm and the performance of the microscope is evaluated by observing a USAF target. Vanadium pentoxide nanorods grown by electron beam irradiation and thermal oxidation methods are used as nanostructures and the morphologies of the nanorods observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) are compared with those obtained by scanning electron microscopy. The magnification and resolution of the CLSM were estimated to be approximately 1500 and 800 nm, respectively. From the results, we confirm that the CLSM can be used to measure nanostructures at the sub-micro-scale without a preconditioning process.