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US 2012/0074333 A1Published application
X-ray Detector for Electron Microscope
AssigneeFEI Company
InventorsHanno Sebastian von Harrach, Bert Freitag, Pleun Dona
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Multiple detectors arranged in a ring within a specimen chamber provide a large solid angle of collection. The detectors preferably include a shutter and a cold shield that reduce ice formation on the detector. By providing detectors surrounding the sample, a large solid angle is provided for improved detection and x-rays are detected regardless of the direction of sample tilt.
Claims21
An x-ray detector assembly for an electron microscope, comprising:
- a mount configured for being supported within the lens of a transmission electron microscope;
- at least two x-ray detectors supported by the mount, the x-ray detectors arranged to receive x-rays from at least two different directions from a sample, each detector including;
- a cold shield at least partly surrounding the detector;
- and
- a heat source to maintain the detector at a higher temperature than the cold shield
2 more elements
A method of determining three-dimensional positional and compositional information about a microscopic specimen, comprising:
- scanning an electron beam across the sample;
- detecting x-rays characteristic of the material in the sample using multiple x-ray angularly spaced around the sample, the x-rays caused to be emitted from the sample by the impact of the electron beam;
- determining from the difference in the x-ray signals detected by the multiple detectors the position of the source of the x-rays along the beam direction;
- and
- improving the accuracy of compositional information by means of the difference in attenuation of the x-ray signal detected by the multiple detectors.
2 more elements
21-35. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.