Journal article
Influence of experimental conditions on atom column visibility in energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
JH Dycus, W Xu, X Sang, AJ D'Alfonso, Z Chen, M Weyland, LJ Allen, SD Findlay, JM LeBeau
Ultramicroscopy | ELSEVIER | Published : 2016
Abstract
Here we report the influence of key experimental parameters on atomically resolved energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). In particular, we examine the role of the probe forming convergence semi-angle, sample thickness, lattice spacing, and dwell/collection time. We show that an optimum specimen-dependent probe forming convergence angle exists to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of the atomically resolved signal in EDX mapping. Furthermore, we highlight that it can be important to select an appropriate dwell time to efficiently process the X-ray signal. These practical considerations provide insight for experimental parameters in atomic resolution energy dispersive X-ray analysis.
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Grants
Awarded by National Science Foundation
Funding Acknowledgements
J.H.D., W.Z., X.S., and J.M.L. gratefully acknowledge support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant No. FA9550-14-1-0182). J.H.D. acknowledges support for this work by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (Grant DGE-1252376). This project was supported under the Discovery Projects funding scheme of the Australian Research Council (Projects DP140102538 and DP110102228). AJ.D. acknowledges the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award from the Australian Research Council (Project No. DE130100739). The authors acknowledge the use of the Analytical Instrumentation Facility (AIF) at North Carolina State University, which is supported by the State of North Carolina and the National Science Foundation.