INSTRUMENTATION AND SOFTWARE FOR ENERGY-LOSS MICROANALYSIS.

Deals with some practical aspects of the design of electron spectrometers, pre- and post-spectrometer optics, electron detectors and electronic systems for storage and processing of energy-loss spectra. The performance of a magnetic spectrometer is shown to depend mainly on its bending radius and aberration coefficient. Expressions are derived for the optimum magnification or camera length of a lens system used to couple the spectrometer to the specimen, taking into account spectrometer and lens aberrations and spectrometer object size. Spherical and chromatic aberration is shown to be avoidable (for all reasonable probe diameters) by using the diffraction mode of coupling. The design of both serial and parallel detection systems is considered from the point of view of energy resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. Minicomputer software for microanalysis based on inner-shell energy loss is illustrated by examples taken from thin-film and radiation-damage studies.