Jeol JXA-8500F is a unique type of electron microscope with analytical ability said to surpass that of even the most advanced scanning electron microscopes (SEM) available today
Jeol USA has completed installation and acceptance of its first thermal field emission electron microprobe in the United States.
The microprobe was installed at Nist in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in one of the world's most technically advanced laboratories for developing new technologies and standards for a wide range of nanotechnology fields.
While most manufacturers and researchers choose the SEM, the EPMA has more of a niche market for customers requiring the ultimate quantitative results and data acquisition.
The ability to simultaneously utilise an energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer (EDS) and up to five wavelength dispersive X-ray spectrometers (WDS) increases speed for elemental analysis of nanometric sample areas.
All but a few of the elements on the periodic table can be analysed.
As a result, this 'super-microprobe' is ideal for the materials, geological, and petrological fields.
The JXA-8500F is the only EPMA to use a Schottky-type field emission gun.
The probe diameter is 1/10th the size of conventional probes.
"This new FE gun allows us to analyze extremely small features by operating at low kV and high beam currents," Charles Nielsen, vice president of JEOL USA.
"The analytical ability of this instrument makes it possible to measure features and map them with a resolution approaching one hundred nanometers".
The analytical ability of the microprobe comes at a higher price than the SEM, Nielsen adds, noting that the price is about 20% higher than conventional EPMA.
The JXA-8500F utilises X-ray spectrometry and allows for high speed, high accuracy qualitative and quantitative in-depth surface analysis as well as area analysis.
Jeol's surface analysis product line is comprised of three categories: auger microanalyzers, electron probe microanalysers (EPMA), and photoelectron spectrometers.
