Patent ID: 8794072

Claim:
A scanning acoustic microscope, comprising: an ultrasonic transducer; a data storage memory; a display; a scanner assembly driven by a motor on which the ultrasonic transducer is mounted; a controller that is electrically connected to the transducer, the data storage memory, this display and the motor, the controller being adapted to cause the motor to move the transducer along a path with respect to a sample, cause the ultrasonic transducer to emit at least one pulse of acoustic energy towards the sample at each point in a plurality of points along the path, cause the ultrasonic transducer to receive a set of reflection signals that correspond to each one of the at least one pulses emitted therefrom, cause each set of reflection signals to be stored in the data storage memory, use at least some of the sets of reflection signals stored in the memory to generate an image of a profile of the sample that is then shown on the display, and use the same at least some of the sets of reflection signals to generate an image that is representative of acoustic impedance features in the interior of the sample and that is shown on the display simultaneously with the profile image; and wherein the image of the profile of the sample shows a variation in height along a line across a surface of the sample in which the variation in height is in reference to a zero point, and the image of the profile includes a color-coded indication of the topography of the surface of the sample.