November AMP_Digital

A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9 3 0 Fig. 3 — Large-area, high-resolution EDS maps of gold-nickel nanoparticles produced in less than one minute using Dual-X detectors. Courtesy of J. Bursik, Institute of Physics of Materials, Brno, Czech Republic. Fig. 4 — High-resolution EDS maps of beam-sensitive material used for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Courtesy of Prof. ShengChun Yang, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. figure; correcting for this and the de- tector geometry is essential for accu- rate EDS quantification. This placement of detectors maximizes the number of x-rays that can be captured in a short period of time, regardless of sample tilt/orientation. The detectors make it possible to perform EDS analyses more quickly than with previous EDS detectors. For example, for a single large-area EDS map, results can be generated in less than 60 seconds. By comparison, pro- ducing the same map a decade ago would have taken an hour or longer. Not only does the speed of acqui- sition enhance productivity, it broadens the types of samples that can be im- aged. With a short time-to-acquisition, high-quality compositional informa- tion can be obtained from beam-sensi- tive materials before they are damaged by the electron beam. When com- bined with a high-brightness X-FEG (extreme field emission gun) electron gun, the high-speed EDS detectors can dramatically improve imaging and spec- troscopy performance, detecting hid- den features that until now could not be observed in beam-sensitive samples. EXTENDING THE USE OF EDS As the use of EDS expands to in- clude beam-sensitive materials, auto- mation breakthroughs are simplifying the technology, extending its applica- tions. Fully embedded Dual-X EDS de- tectors enable: • Automated EDS tomography for fast access to 3D chemical information. The microscope can be set up to automatically acquire 3D chemical information overnight unattended. • STEM and EDS Maps software for au- tomated acquisition of statistically relevant data on large area images at high resolution. Data from differ- ent imaging and analysis modali- ties are easily correlated including on-the-fly processing and statistics using Thermo Fisher’s visualization and analysis software Avizo. • An automatic correction for absorp- tion, which adjusts for holder geom- etry and detector dimensions. The absorption correction is embedded into the company’s Velox soft- ware, making it possible to obtain accurate elemental quantification information. These features make EDS far eas- ier to use, extending the technique to