Techniques for combining light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy: a survey of the literature

A survey of methods combining light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy is presented. A simple correlation is made when two preparations from adjacent parts of one specimen are investigated in two different microscopes. A more sophisticated method is the consecutive investigation of one specimen with two microscopes. A major problem in this method is the relocation of the area of interest. Several authors have presented solutions for this problem. It is preferable when one preparation is investigated in only one instrument, combining the two microscopical (LM and SEM) techniques, thus making relocation redundant.