Electron-excited energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry in the variable pressure scanning electron microscope (EDS/VPSEM): it's not microanalysis anymore!

Dale E. Newbury; Nicholas W. M. Ritchie

doi:10.1117/12.2191088

21 October 2015 Electron-excited energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry in the variable pressure scanning electron microscope (EDS/VPSEM): it's not microanalysis anymore!

Dale E. Newbury, Nicholas W. M. Ritchie

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9636, Scanning Microscopies 2015; 96360T (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2191088
Event: SPIE Scanning Microscopies, 2015, Monterey, California, United States

Abstract

X-ray spectra suffer significantly degraded spatial resolution when measured in the variable-pressure scanning electron microscope (VPSEM, chamber pressure 1 Pa to 2500 Pa) as compared to highvacuum SEM (operating pressure < 10 mPa). Depending on the gas path length, electrons that are scattered hundreds of micrometers outside the focused beam can contribute 90% or more of the measured spectrum. Monte Carlo electron trajectory simulation, available in NIST DTSA-II, models the gas scattering and simulates mixed composition targets, e.g., particle on substrate. The impact of gas scattering at the major (C > 0.1 mass fraction), minor (0.01 ≤ C ≤ 0.1), and trace (C < 0.01) constituent levels can be estimated. NIST DTSA-II for Java-platforms is available free at: http://www.cstl.nist.gov/div837/837.02/epq/dtsa2/index.html).

Citation Download Citation

Dale E. Newbury and Nicholas W. M. Ritchie "Electron-excited energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry in the variable pressure scanning electron microscope (EDS/VPSEM): it's not microanalysis anymore!", Proc. SPIE 9636, Scanning Microscopies 2015, 96360T (21 October 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2191088

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