Scanning electron microscope or similar equipment with tiltable microscope column

The specification describes a scanning electron microscope or similar equipment having a tiltable microscope column so as to observe a specimen at different angles without inclining the specimen. In order to make the microscope column tiltable relative to its specimen chamber, an opening is formed through a wall portion of the specimen chamber. The opening is covered up by a movable cover. A lower portion of the microscope column extends through the cover into the specimen chamber. A sealing member is provided so as to surround the opening between the wall portion and cover to ensure the hermetic sealing therebetween. Since the microscope is tilted instead of inclining the specimen stage to obtain images of the specimen seen at different angles, the specimen stage can be simplified in both structure and mechanism. The specimen stage is thus kept stationary, resulting in a complete solution to vibrations caused by conventional specimen stages and in a substantial improvement to the resolution of scanning electron microscope and similar equipment.