TEM

Inflation Got You Down?  

Matt Chipman, Sales Manager – Western U.S., EDAX and Gatan

I recently watched a local news story about inflation in consumer goods. The reporter wanted to know if the dollar store could save you money on groceries. The general answer was perhaps on some items, but it wasn’t significant. However, it was interesting to see how some stores focus on a perceived value instead of a real value to its consumer. First, the dollar store raised its starting price from $1.00 to $1.25. Then they used odd-sized packages that were not equivalent to regular grocery store items, making a direct comparison difficult and offering minimal to no real savings. Finally, the dollar store’s selection was very limited so you may end up back at the regular grocery store for anything other than packaged goods.

So, what does this have to do with the microanalysis business? Well, I believe it’s important to look at the big picture with real, tangible benefits that can impact your research. By offering both EDAX and Gatan products, there are more opportunities to combine different technologies to enable unique analyses that can provide a tremendous value to your material studies.

One great example is the quantification of lithium on a scanning electron microscope. By uniting Gatan’s low-kV OnPoint™ Backscattered Electron Detector with EDAX’s Octane Elite Super EDS Detector, this one-of-a-kind analysis is now possible, surpassing what can be done by either technique alone.

Figure 1. The lithium mapping from joint characterization of the EDAX Octane Elite EDS Detector and Gatan OnPoint BSE Detector.

Not to forget, we’ve also been combining the strengths of the Gatan DigitalMicrograph® Software with the EDAX EDS detector technology for TEMs. I believe we are just beginning to scratch the surface of creative things we can do by joining microanalysis systems and techniques. I love discussing creative ways my customers can coalesce microanalysis techniques to do something new.

Figure 2. Multimodal data acquisition of EELS and EDS data combines the chemical sensitivity of EELS with the broad compositional mapping of EDS. Pictured – STEM EELS/EDS mapping of vertical channel 3D NAND acquired with DigitalMicrograph software.

I hope we can all figure out ways to get a real, noticeable value from the equipment we purchase during this time of inflation. I hope to hear ideas from some of you as you tell me about the needs of your laboratories.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Jonathan McMenamin, Marketing Communications Coordinator, EDAX

EDAX is considered one of the leaders in the world of microscopy and microanalysis. After concentrating on advancements to our Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) systems for the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) over the past few years, EDAX turned its attention to advances in Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) and EDS for the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) in 2019.

After the introduction of the Velocity™ Plus EBSD camera in June 2018, which produces indexing speeds greater that 3,000 indexed points per second, EDAX raised the bar further in 2019. In March, the company announced the arrival of the fastest EBSD camera in the world, the Velocity™ Super, which can go 50% faster at 4,500 indexed points per second. This was truly a great accomplishment!

EBSD orientation map from additively manufactured Inconel 718 collected at 4,500 indexed points per second at 25 nA beam current.

Less than three months later, EDAX added a new detector to its TEM product portfolio. The Elite T Ultra is a 160 mm2 detector that offers a unique geometry and powerful quantification routines for comprehensive analysis solutions for all TEM applications. The windowless detector’s geometric design gives it the best possible solid angle to increase the X-ray count rates for optimal results.

EDAX Elite T Ultra EDS System for the TEM.

Just before the annual Microscopy & Microanalysis conference, EDAX launched the OIM Matrix™ software module for OIM Analysis™. This new tool gives users the ability to perform dynamic diffraction-based EBSD pattern simulations and dictionary indexing. Users can now simulate EBSD patterns based on the physics of dynamical diffraction of electrons. These simulated patterns can then be compared to experimentally collected EBSD patterns. Dictionary indexing helps improve indexing success rates over standard Hough-based indexing approaches. You can watch Dr. Stuart Wright’s <a href=”https://youtu.be/Jri181evpiA&#8221; target=”_blank”>presentation from M&M</a> for more information.

Dictionary indexing flow chart and conventional indexing results compared with dictionary indexing results for a nickel sample with patterns collected in a high-gain/noisy condition.

EDAX has several exciting product announcements on the way in early 2020. We have teased a two of these releases, APEX™ Software for EBSD and the Clarity™ Direct Electron Detector. APEX™ EBSD will give users the ability to characterize both compositional and structural characteristics of their samples on the APEX™ Platform. It gives them the ability to collect and index EBSD patterns and EBSD maps, as well as allow for simultaneous EDS-EBSD collection. You can learn more about APEX™ EBSD in the September issue of the Insight newsletter and in our “APEX™ EBSD – Making EBSD Data Collection How You Want It” webinar.

EBSD of a Gibeon Meteorite sample covering a 7.5 mm x 6.5 mm area using ComboScan for large area analysis.

The Clarity™ is the world’s first commercial direct electron detector (DeD) for EBSD. It provides patterns of the highest quality and sensitivity with no detector read noise and no distortion for optimal performance. The Clarity™ does not require a phosphor screen or light transfer system. The DeD camera is so sensitive that individual electrons can be detected, giving users unprecedented performance for EBSD pattern collection. It is ideal for analysis of beam sensitive samples and potential strain applications. We recently had a webinar “Direct Electron Detection with Clarity™ – Viewing EBSD Patterns in a New Light” previewing the Clarity™. You can also get a better understanding of the system in the December issue of the Insight newsletter or the .

EBSD pattern from Silicon
using the Clarity™ detector.

All this happened in one year! 2020 looks to be another great year for EDAX with further improvements and product releases to offer the best possible tools for you to solve your materials characterization problems.

A Lot of Excitement in the Air!

Sia Afshari, Global Marketing Manager, EDAX

After all these years I still get excited about new technologies and their resulting products, especially when I have had the good fortune to play a part in their development. As I look forward to 2019, there are new and exciting products on the horizon from EDAX, where the engineering teams have been hard at work innovating and enhancing capabilities across all product lines. We are on the verge of having one of our most productive years for product introduction with new technologies expanding our portfolio in electron microscopy and micro-XRF applications.

Our APEX™ software platform will have a new release early this year with substantial feature enhancements for EDS, to be followed by EBSD capabilities later in 2019. APEX™ will also expand its wings to uXRF providing a new GUI and advanced quant functions for bulk and multi-layer analysis.

Our OIM Analysis™ EBSD software will also see a major update with the addition of a new Dictionary Indexing option.

A new addition to our TEM line will be a 160 mm² detector in a 17.5 mm diameter module that provides an exceptional solid angle for the most demanding applications in this field.

Elite T EDS System

Velocity™, EDAX’s low noise CMOS EBSD camera, provides astonishing EBSD performance at greater than 3000 fps with high indexing on a range of materials including deformed samples.

Velocity™ EBSD Camera

Last but not least, being an old x-ray guy, I can’t help being so impressed with the amazing EBSD patterns we are collecting from a ground-breaking direct electron detection (DED) camera with such “Clarity™” and detail, promising a new frontier for EBSD applications!
It will be an exciting year at EDAX and with that, I would like to wish you all a great, prosperous year!

My New Lab Partner Part 2 (East Coast Edition)

Jens Rafaelsen, Applications Engineer, EDAX

During a recent trip to our Draper lab in Utah for a training class, I got a first-hand look at Matt’s new lab partner (https://edaxblog.com/2017/02/14/my-new-lab-partner/). I must admit that I am a little envious of his new microscope and how easily you get great looking images (even at low acceleration voltage or high beam current) compared to the systems we have in our Mahwah lab. However, I must also admit that he needed an upgrade a lot more than we did. While his old XL has been very reliable (and still seems to be, even after moving it to another room), it was always a bit of a worry conducting a training class with only one microscope available and one that was at end of service life at that.

Around the time when Matt got his new microscope we also had an addition to our Mahwah lab as seen in the picture below:

OK, it’s definitely not an ARM or a TITAN, it only goes to 120kV, it’s not quite as new and fancy as Matt’s microscope, and the firmware might read 1994 when you hit the ON button, but it’s still good to have a TEM in the building once again. One of the things that’s great about older scientific instruments is that they often include full vacuum and wiring diagrams, schematics, and troubleshooting directions. Not so great: pressure readings in arbitrary numbers… I did some creative plumbing and mounted extra gauges on the line of the microscope gauges so now I know that a pressure reading in the buffer tank of 26 corresponds to roughly 10-1 mbar and that the camera chamber goes down to the mid 10-5 mbar. As an added bonus, several people in the building have been around long enough to have experience with the CM12 both as users and service and have had their memories jogged for how to run and align it. This also spurred the comment: “That’s right, this is why I decided to get out of field service…”.

Having had very limited TEM experience it’s been a bit of a learning curve for me but I think it’s getting there. There’s still a lot to learn when it comes to fine tuning of the instrument, diffraction, and aligning for dark field imaging, but at least I am able to get bright field images at over 500k magnification without spending too much time. And some of the images actually have somewhat decent resolution and recognizable features at that:

Holey carbon at 660.000x magnification

Of course, a lot of what we do at EDAX doesn’t really require great resolution or the newest instruments. While it’s always nice to have pretty pictures to go along with things, the X-rays don’t really care much about your astigmatism or spot size (unless you are trying to map of course). But there’s a significant difference in what you see in your spectra whether your electrons are hitting the sample with 15 kV or 120 kV. There are also very different considerations and limitations between a SEM and a TEM when it comes to actually mounting the detector, designing collimators, and even what materials can be used. With that being said, I hope that with my “new” lab partner we will move things along so that we can show you new applications, software, and hardware specifically for the TEM in the near future.