US 2013/0240728 A1 · METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVING CHARACTERISTIC PEAK SIGNALS IN ANALYTICAL ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for improving characteristic peak signals in electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) measurements of crystalline materials. A beam scanning protocol is applied which varies the inclination, azimuthal angle, or a combination thereof of the incident beam while spectroscopic data is acquired. The method and system may be applied to compositional mapping.

Claims27

Dependent claims

A method for obtaining spectroscopic data comprising:

furnishing in an electron microscope a sample comprising crystalline material;
and
configuring an electron beam to impinge on a location of the sample comprising a region of crystalline material;
characterized in that the method further comprises:
applying an incident beam scanning protocol that maintains the beam impinging substantially on the sample location while varying over time one or both of the incident beam inclination angle and azimuthal angle;
and
acquiring a set of spectroscopic data while the incident beam scanning protocol is being applied.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

13/681,245Filed 19 Nov 2012

Priority

EP 12160112.419 Mar 2012

Published

19 Sep 2013

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

H01J 49/44
Particle spectrometers or separator tubes: energy spectrometers, e.g. alpha-, beta-spectrometers
G01N 23/2251
Using electron or ion: using incident electron beams, e.g. scanning electron microscopy [SEM]
G01N 2223/051
By diffraction, scatter or reflection: correcting for scatter
G01N 2223/402
Imaging: mapping distribution of elements

Method and system for improving characteristic peak signals in analytical electron microscopy

Life of this patent

Method and system for improving characteristic peak signals in analytical electron microscopy

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims27