Oral Presentation 24th Australian Conference on Microscopy and Microanalysis 2016

High spatial resolution imaging and X-ray microanalysis in field emission scanning electron microscopes in STEM mode (#36)

Raynald Gauvin 1 , Hendrix Demers 1 , Nicolas Brodusch 1 , Patrick Woo 2
  1. McGill University, Montreal, QUEBEC, Canada
  2. Hitachi High Tech Canada, Toronto, Canada

The emergence of transmission approaches to imaging and diffraction within the scanning electron microscope (SEM) has opened the door to a new realm of characterization that both extends established limits of conventional SEM and complements the strengths of the transmission electron microscope (TEM). This talk will present the results obtained in this regards by the research group of Pr. Gauvin which have two start of the art FE-SEM, the Hitachi SU-8000 and the new Hitachi SU-8230 that has the auto flash mode, giving higher probe current with stability. The SU-8230 is equipped with the FlashQuad SDD detector from Bruker that has a solid angle of 1.2 Sr, allowing the mapping of 6 nm particulates in STEM mode at 20 keV. Results obtained with the dedicated STEM Hitachi SU-9000 will also be presented, including nano-diffraction and EELS. High resolution imaging of bulk and nanomaterials at low beam energy (below 5 keV) and also at very low electron energy (below 500 eV) will also be presented. The effect of the various electron detectors of these microscopes on imaging will be covered, including the new dark field imaging technique with EBSD [1]. Quantitative x-ray microanalysis with the f ratio method [2, 3] will also be covered, allowing the use of cold field electron microscopes as analytical tools.

  1. N. Brodusch, H. Demers and R. Gauvin (2015), Ultramicroscopy, 148, pp. 123-131.
  2. P. Horny, E. Lifshin, H. Campbell and R. Gauvin (2010), Microscopy and Microanalysis, 16, p. 821-830.
  3. R. Gauvin (2012), Microscopy and Microanalysis, 18, p. 915-940.