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X-Ray Microanalysis of Materials in the ESEM or VP-SEM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

Raynald Gauvin*
Affiliation:
Département de génie mécanique, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada, J1K 2R1.
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Abstract

When performing X-Ray microanalysis in the ESEM (Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope) or in the VP-SEM (Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope), the operating conditions of the microscope must be optimized. This is to reduce the beam broadening of the incident electrons when they scatter with the gas molecules before entering into the specimen. As a result of this scattering, the incident beam is composed of two parts. The first part of the beam is the unscattered beam and the second part is the scattered beam, named the skirt. in high pressure and long working distances conditions, the diameter of the skirt may extend to several millimeters. in order to show the effect of the skirt on X-Ray generation, a copper strip was placed .5 mm away of the electron beam on a flat Al specimen. The peak to background ratio of the copper line was measured at different pressure (from 25 to 200 Pa) for Air as gas.

Type
Technologists’ Forum: ESEM/Lv/Vp: Imaging at Low Vacuum (Organized by J. Killius)
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2001

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References

1.Gauvin, R. (1999) “Some Theoretical Considerations on X-Ray Microanalysis in the Environmental or Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope”, Scanning, Vol.21, 6, pp. 388393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Gauvin, R. et al. (2001), “A Method to Measure the Effective Gas Path Length in the Environmental or Variable Pressure SEM”, Submitted to Scanning.Google Scholar