5. Conclusion

Thanks to the development of Surfs, a new generation of microscope slides, optical microscopy, which since its invention several centuries ago has been confined to the observation of microscopic or submicroscopic structures, has now been propelled into the field of nanotechnology, which until now has been reserved for characterization techniques using electron sources (SEM, TEM, etc.) or near-field sources (AFM, STM, etc.). In addition to their accessibility, optical microscopes offer several advantages over conventional nanometric characterization techniques: analysis in real time, in aqueous media, in controlled atmospheres, wide choice of magnification...

These features have enabled the SEEC technique to gradually establish itself as an essential technique for characterizing nanofilms, nanotubes and nano-objects, despite the imposed support and limited lateral...