CHARACTERIZATION OF AN ANALYTICAL ELECTRON-MICROSCOPE WITH A NIO TESTSPECIMEN

We show how an easily fabricated test specimen, consisting of a thin f ilm of nickel oxide supported on a molybdenum grid, can be used for qu antitative evaluation of a transmission electron microscope fitted wit h an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer. The support grid contribute s additional background and characteristic peaks to the EDX spectrum, providing a quantitative measure of stray X-rays and electrons present in the microscope column. Because it takes into account electron scat tering in the specimen, this measurement provides more realistic infor mation about system contributions than a traditional ''hole count'' te st. The NiO specimen can also be used to measure the solid angle of th e EDX detector, its efficiency at low photon energies and other system parameters. We present results for a germanium low-Z atmospheric-wind ow detector attached to a JEOL-2010 microscope.