Rigorous modeling of a confocal microscope

Abstract

A reliable tool for simulations of confocal microscopes shall be developed to enable improved model-based dimensional metrology. To simulate measurements on rough surfaces the boundary element method (BEM) simulation tool SpeckleSim, developed by the ITO of the University of Stuttgart, is combined with a Fourier optics based image formation. SpeckleSim, which calculates the light-structure interaction by solving the Maxwell equations, is compared with the well-known FEM based solver JCMsuite and the FDTD based solver Ansys Lumerical. As an example, a rectangular shaped line is used as an object. Due to different boundary conditions the results show as expected small deviations, which require further investigations. First comparison results and the general concept of the image formation method will be presented.