Oxford Instruments, Concord, Mass., introduces a real-time navigation and imaging system for the SEM that helps users interactively explore samples based on video-rate X-ray maps colored by element rather than the black and white electron image alone. Unlike traditional static approaches to elemental analysis, the new system allows the user to move the sample in any direction and see which elements are present as live colored X-ray maps. This capability is enabled by the combination of two new products: a new fast silicon drift detector, Ultim Max; and the real-time EDS analysis software, AZtecLive.
AZtecLive enables real-time sample navigation via EDS. Imagine moving around the sample trying to find a feature of interest using the microscope stage and the electron image in fast scan mode. Now imagine viewing X-ray maps updating just as fast. With accurate AutoID telling you what elements are under the beam, a new level of certainty is added to sample investigation compared to secondary and backscatter imaging alone.
When a user identifies a feature of interest and stops moving for a closer look, AZtecLive automatically switches to integrated mapping mode to collect an even more detailed picture of what is under the electron beam. To complete the sample investigation, AZtecLive records the elements found at every part of a sample visited. Users can tell easily where they’ve been, and what they found, and easily return to any location for more detailed analysis.
The technology that makes live Navigation by Chemistry a reality is the new Ultim Max, a leap in large area SDD performance that delivers twice the sensitivity and up to four times the speed of the best current generation of SDD detectors. Sensor areas up to a massive 170mm2 mean X-ray maps can be collected in fractions of a second with normal beam currents. AZtecLive uniquely provides the tools to accurately turn data collected at many hundreds of thousands of counts per second, into useful information. Unique pile-up correction ensures accurate data even at high count rates.
According to X-ray Business Manager, Dr. Simon Burgess, the jump in speed, sensitivity, and accuracy not only powers AZtecLive, but also offers new capability and productivity for micro- and nano-analyses. “From mapping a complete sample in minutes through to collecting unrivalled information about nano-structures, low concentrations, and light elements, or analyzing samples where charging or beam sensitivity were a barrier to using EDS, AZtecLive and Ultim Max change the art of the possible.”
