PFE utilities functions and descriptions

[Anette von der Handt]

Hi all,

Probe for EPMA has a couple very useful (IMO) standalone utilities that get installed together with the main program in the PFE folder. I am not sure how much love they generally receive but I found them very useful for data quality control, machine health monitoring and also for teaching.

Therefore I thought I post an overview (just copied from the manual) and the locations for various useful functionalities and calculations that I use (if I missed one, please let me know) compiled into one list. A pdf version is also attached.

Best, Anette

Probe for EPMA utility programs

Several very useful utilities are provided with Probe for EPMA that are sometimes a subset of the complete Probe for EPMA application but also provide unique features. These utilities and a brief description are listed here (full details are provided in additional sections in the manual):

CalcImage    Quantitative Imaging (requires ProbeImage acquisition package)
CalcZAF    Standalone ZAF with electron/x-ray range and detection modeling.
Calibrate    JEOL (8200/8900/8500 only) spectrometer and stage limit calibration utility
CalMAC    Mass absorption coefficient calculations
Coat    Calculates evaporation coating thickness from wire diameter and length
Drift    Search all files for standard intensities for a specified condition
Evaluate    Plot k-ratios or intensities versus composition of standards
Faraday    Faraday cup and beam utility
GunAlign    JEOL (8200/8900/8500 only) and Cameca (SX100/SXFive) Gun alignment utility
Monitor    JEOL (8900/8200/8500 only and Cameca (SX100/SXFive) instrument monitor utility
Remote    Automation utility for Excel to instrument interface, optional
Search    Utility to search for text or samples within a probe database file
Stage    General stage and digitizing utility
Standard    Standard database creation and modification
StartWin    General spectrometer and counting utility
TestFid    Standalone fiducial conversion utility for stage import/export from other instruments
TestType    Test utility for interface functions (available upon request)
UserWin    User hourly usage utility
Vacuum    JEOL (8200/8900/SXFive) and Cameca (SX100/SXFive) vacuum utility

Useful PFE functions and where to find them

Function --> Standalone Utility --> Submenu

Calibrate beam scan from stage scan” (output beam calibration) --> CalcImage --> “Processing”
Model Detection Limits --> CalcZAF --> “Run”
Calculate Electron and X-ray ranges --> CalcZAF --> “Run”
Calculate Sample temperature rise --> CalcZAF --> “Run”
Calculate Spectrometer positions for Cameca, JEOL (with refractive index correction) --> CalcZAF --> “X-ray”
Model Secondary Fluorescence Boundary Effects --> CalcZAF --> “Analytical”
Correct Secondary Fluorescence Boundary Effects --> CalcZAF --> “Analytical”
Mosaic imaging function --> Stage --> “Automate”
MQ (Monte-Carlo) Calculations --> Standard --> “Analytical”
PENEPMA (Monte-Carlo) Calculations --> Standard --> “Analytical”
PENEPMA (Secondary Fluorescence Profile) Calculations -->    Standard --> “Analytical”
Modal Analysis (quantitative Phase ID)    --> Standard --> “Options”
Interferences (calculate spectral overlaps) --> Standard --> “Options"

[Anette von der Handt]

Ha, found another one (squirreled away in Evaluate)!

There is the option to automatically generate variation plots for the data within a mdb.file

Following the structure of my post above, you can find it here:

Variation plot --> Evaluate --> “Window”

[Probeman]

Ha, found another one (squirreled away in Evaluate)!

There is the option to automatically generate variation plots for the data within a mdb.file

Following the structure of my post above, you can find it here:

Variation plot --> Evaluate --> “Window”

Hi Anette,
Well someone actually found this!   

It was described here a while back:

http://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?topic=340.msg587#msg587

[Anette von der Handt]

Darn, hidden in plain sight. I guess it still makes sense to also list it here.

[John Donovan]

Darn, hidden in plain sight. I guess it still makes sense to also list it here.

Absolutely!

I suspect that there are more features in the software that I've forgotten about than I remember!