Microcalorimeter energy-dispersive spectrometry using a low voltage scanning electron microscope

We describe the current performance of the prototype microcalorimeter energ y-dispersive spectrometer (mu cal EDS) developed at NIST for X-ray microana lysis. We show that the low-energy mu cal EDS, designed for operation in th e energy range 0.2-2 keV, offers significant advantages for low-beam-energy microanalysis. We present several examples in which the prototype mu cal E DS has been used to solve problems in low-voltage microanalysis, including the analysis of tungsten silicide (WSi2), titanium nitride (TiN) and barium titanate (BaTiO3) and the measurement of chemical shifts in Fe and C compo unds.