Question

The great advantage of using EDS inside SEM is that we can do both Microscopy and Spectroscopy. However, there is no point in attempting to analyze regions much less than 1um in diameter with EDS in SEM. Why?

Answer 1

EDS is an analytical capability that can be coupled with several application including SEM . EDS when combined with these imaging tools,can provide elemental analysis on areas as small as nanometers in diameter.Acquistion of upto eight signals at once during a scan.Eight characteristics xray emissions lines may be acquired at once to map 8 elements. Alternatively one of the channels may be dedicated to acquiring a secondary electron or a backscatter election image while 7 elements aee detected. Spot,line and area maps of elements can be generated.These maps may be color codedewith several elemental maps superimposed on the secondary electron or backscatterd electron images. While secondary electron image may have a resolution of a few nanometers ,the x-ray emission spectrum has a much larger volume of material as it source .x rays are emitted throughout the volume of material into which the electron beam is scatrerd and decelerated ,so the resolution is commonly 1 micrometer laterally and about 1-2 micrometers in depth