This document specifies a destructive method for the measurement of the local thickness of metallic and other inorganic coatings by examination of cross-sections with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The method is applicable for thicknesses up to several millimetres, but for such thick coatings it is usually more practical to use a light microscope (see ISO 1463). The lower thickness limit depends on the achieved measurement uncertainty (see Clause 10).

NOTE       The method can also be used for organic layers when they are neither damaged by the preparation of the cross-section nor by the electron beam during imaging.