FEI is extending its Chemistem technology to enable atomic-level energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy across the periodic table.
The combination of increased current in an atomic-sized probe by Cs-correction and the increase in X-ray detection sensitivity and beam current of the Chemistem technology allows results to be obtained in minutes.
Prof Ferdinand Hofer of Graz University of Technology said a key application for the technology will be element-specific imaging at atomic resolution.
He said his facility will apply the technology to study interfaces in semiconductors, solar cell materials, LEDs and ceramic materials with high detection sensitivity and accuracy.
FEI said Chemistem will enable advances in catalysis, metallurgy, microelectronics, and green energy materials.
In a recent experiment with Chemistem technology, a client of FEI was able to clearly resolve the core-shell structure of 5nm catalyst nanoparticles in three minutes and with greater pixel resolution than a previous experiment with conventional technology.
Chemistem technology achieves a factor of 50 or more enhancement in speed of EDX elemental mapping on scanning/transmission electron microscopes (S/TEMs) compared with conventional technology employing standard EDX Silicon drift detectors (SDD) and standard Schottky-FEG electron sources.
It combines FEI's X-FEG high-brightness electron source, providing up to five times more beam current at a given spatial resolution; the Super-X detection system, providing up to 10 times or more detection sensitivity in EDX; and fast scanning electronics, capable of achieving EDX spectral rates of up to 100,000 spectra per second.
Additionally, the windowless detector design employed for each of Chemistem technology's four integrated SDD detectors has proven to optimise the detection of both light and heavy elements.
This combination of detection sensitivity and spectral rates of up to 100,000 spectra per second are enabling better EDX mapping of materials that are highly sensitive to electron beam damage, such as composition analysis in nanometre-scale indium gallium nitride quantum wells used in LED devices and semiconductor devices with potentially mobile dopant materials, as well as other devices used in emerging nanotechnologies.
