Introduction to Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) 

Hi Stefan, Thanks for your question. The easiest way to do this would be to use the Pre-defined elements tab that is located in the “Describe Specimen” step. Here you can select which elements you want included in your analysis. Once identified you can return to the spectrum and using the “Confirm Elements” step, use “clear all” to remove the Auto ID elements and then click “Pre-defined” to apply the pre-defined element selection.

Hi Rainer, thank you for your comment. Using PT5 and 6 is great practice for ensuring high spectral resolution and good peak definition. By incorporating our new Extreme electronics into the Ultim range of detectors, you can now achieve similar spectral resolution from PT 4, which will allow you to acquire data with an even higher count rate. Also if you are looking at elements with very little peak overlap, then utilising a faster process time, for a larger input count rate, will not be detrimental to your quantification results.

Hi Sam, i hope to find an opportunity to play with the new AZtec electronic soon. Your information sounds great. It's amazing how fast the development is going on. Because of Corona I will not be able to do my INCA & AZtec customer trainings in the near future.

Hi there, There are effectively 3 different map types available in AZtec, SmartMap, TruMap and QuantMap. SmartMap is a windows integral map, where pixel intensity is a representation of counts from an energy window with no correction. TruMap takes the windows integral a step further incorporating peak deconvolution, background correction and pulse pile up correction. QuantMap applies the same corrections as TruMap but converts the pixel value in each map to the Wt% for that element in each pixel, this results in maps directly visualising the compositional variation across a sample. AutoPhaseMap runs a smart grouping algorithm to identify phases in your EDS, grouping them and assigning a colour. This helps users visualise groups of phases with similar compositions across their samples. Please contact us here for more information > nano.oxinst.com/contact-us

Hi Nagaraju, to find out more on the AZtec software and ways to purchase it, please click here > nano.oxinst.com/licence/aztecflex

Hi Akhilesh, EDS of nanometre structures can be more challenging as you need to account for the interaction volume of the X-rays being generated by your sample. For samples that are < 100nm you need to use a smaller accelerating voltage to ensure that the X-rays being generated come from the region of interest, therefore we typically suggest 5kV or less for nanometre EDS. When using these operating conditions EDS quantification can become more challenging as we no longer have access to the robust K alpha X-ray lines that are often used for quantification. We do however still have access to the full periodic table when performing EDS at 5kV and therefore can identify all elements present and deconvolute the more complex L and M lines. If you are specifically looking at thin film analysis we have developed some special routines that can be used to analyse nanometer thin film layered structures known as LayerProbe, an example can be found here: nano.oxinst.com/library/blog/understanding-thin-film-layer-thickness

Hi Milad, interaction volume and electron penetration depth can be calculated computationally. The simulations require a strong understanding of both the acquisition/experimentally parameters and the composition/structure of the material being analysed. As each electron interaction will be different, you can then use Monte Carlo simulations to simulate thousands of electron interaction, which can then be visualised to determine the interaction volume. A range of free scientific Monte Carlo software packages are available online, that have been optimised for EDS analysis. Oxford Instruments.