It is now becoming increasingly more commonplace to acquire three-dimensional EELS data sets, whether by parallel acquisition of a linear series of spectra to form an EELS spectrum-image, or by discretely sampling energy-loss space through a series of energy-filtered images to build an EFTEM image-spectrum. These data sets can contain large amounts of both spectral and spatial information, and, as a result, the distinction between the two acquisition modes is becoming increasingly blurred. Accordingly, approaches are required that facilitate both the techniques developed for EFTEM and EELS analyses, in order to obtain optimal information from the acquired data.

An example of such an approach is illustrated by means of characterisation of a Mn and Fe rich intermetallic particle in a cast aluminium alloy (Figs. a-f). A continuous EFTEM image-series was acquired from 0-800 eV loss, using a CM300 FEGTEM equipped with a 2k Gatan Imaging Filter.