If you are looking for a higher magnification or larger field of view than
Adrian speaks of, another alternative is Mireau objectives.  My group has
been using a Nikon Optiphot microscope, with halogen light source and
narrow-band filters to get the (two-beam) interference fringes.  Great
imaging, and measurement over the whole field of view,but I wouldn't
recommend it if you need either a long working distance (more than a few
millimeters) or a focal depth greater than a few microns.  I've been able
to resolve positions/movements down to at least 15nm, using a green filter,
CCD camera and post-processing of the image.  I haven't yet measured how
much of that is surface roughness on my device and how much is optical
noise.  On that note, you will also need some form of vibration isolation
for your system.  An `infinity-focus' microscope such as this can also be
used for laser interferometry, by either changing the lighting source or
using a fiber vibrometer (a Doppler source gets you velocity measurement)
in the trinocular tube.  The next step up would probably be a confocal
microscope or a Zygo/Wyco measurement system.

 - Good luck,
 dave.

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> Dear sirs,

> In the design of cantilever beams and doubly-supported beams many authors
> have been used interferometric techniques to measure the deflection of
> those microestructures. Could anyone E-mail me where I can buy an
> optical microscope to measure vertical deflection?

> Thanks in advance

> Dr. F. Sandoval-Ibarra
> Microelectronics Laboratory
> INAOE, Puebla (Mexico)
> Phone: + 52 (22) 47 20 11
> Fax: + 52 (22) 47 05 17
>



>