DEVELOPMENT, QUANTITATIVE PERFORMANCE AND APPLICATIONS OF A PARALLEL ELECTRON-ENERGY-LOSS SPECTRUM IMAGING-SYSTEM

The development of a parallel electron energy-loss spectrum imaging sy stem is presented. The analytical performance of the imaging technique was investigated and the system applied to materials science problems . The system, which allows acquisition and storage of a parallel elect ron energy-loss spectrum at each pixel of an image, was developed by i nterfacing a multichannel analyser and a microscope to a computer work station. In the experimental conditions used for imaging, detection li mits and quantification errors were large and varied as a function of spatial resolution and the range of chemical elements of interest in t he image. Applications of this imaging technique in materials science showed that quantitative chemical information is provided by the syste m and that the use of relative thickness maps and detailed statistical analysis of the spectrum-image allowed an unbiased interpretation of the images. As energy-loss spectra are available after processing, spe ctro-scopic information about the analysed material can be used to pro vide supplementary information.