Electron Probe Lab Information

Updated: May 22, 2022

General:

The UW Madison Electron Microprobe Lab is a regional facility and is open to both "inside" users (University of Wisconsin System) as well as others.

Sample preparation: this is a critical aspect of epma operation. Samples must be of the proper size and geometry to fit into our sample holders, but mainly be properly aligned with the electron source and spectrometers. Therefore, if you are new to this, before making any plans, please contact the electron probe lab manager (John Fournelle). It can save lots of headaches.

Sample coating: We have two coaters, a traditional carbon evaporation unit (Denton, rebuilt oil-free) and a Leica ACE600 coater, which we mainly use for iridium coating (mainly for EBSD, but also for carbon epma)

  • Cameca SXFive Field Emission (#944) Spectrometer - Crystals
  • SP1: LTAP, LPC2
  • SP2: TAP, PET, LIF, PC1
  • SP3: LPET, LLIF
  • SP4: TAP, PET, LIF, PC0
  • SP5: LLIF, LPET
  • Note: LIF and LLIF above are the 'normal' 2d=200Å crystal diffractors.

    The FE source provides improved targeting ability (now very small inclusions can be avoided) for "regular" 15 kV operation, but an important additional feature now being developed is low kV (e.g., 7 kV) operation where the X-ray generation volume is reduced and sub-micron analytical resolution is possible (see discussion of low voltage EPMA). The SXFiveFE operates with both Cameca PeakSight software and Probe for EPMA/Probe Image software. There is a ThermoScientific UltraDry EDS detector running Pathfinder.


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