An image processing system using a microcomputer was introduced to a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and scanning Auger electron microscope (SAM) apparatus. This system was constructed more compactly and inexpensively than using a commercial image processing system. Noise reduction and feature extraction were achieved by using this system in processing the SAM image of several small areas of Au deposited on a Cu substrate. A bird's eye view mapping was also useful for enhancing the density distribution of the Au deposits. In addition, in order to obtain the true SAM images, we developed an image subtraction method which uses the values of peak-to-peak intensities of Auger dN (E)/dE signals.
