Minimum stage movement on SXFive

[Facundo Bilbao]

Hello everyone, I am currently investigating a few characteristics of the CAMECA SXFive microprobe, and one of the question in mind is the minimum movement available of the stage in order to make several measurements in a straight line with the maximum resolution available.
Greetings,

[Probeman]

Hello everyone, I am currently investigating a few characteristics of the CAMECA SXFive microprobe, and one of the question in mind is the minimum movement available of the stage in order to make several measurements in a straight line with the maximum resolution available.
Greetings,

I only know that the SX100 minimum stage move is 1 um.  In order to get sub micron stage sampling one needs to use a mapping or scanning function and then quantify that. 

[sem-geologist]

Yes, SXFive has the same mechanical stage as SX100, thus for discrete quantitative points the step is 1µm (the limiting factor is 1µm grating and optical encoder). Only in mappings and profiles continuous mode of stepper motors can be used to achieve sub 1µm mechanical precision. But if You need sub µm step for discreet points, what about using beam shift to achieve that?

[Facundo Bilbao]

Using beam shift wouldn't make me step out of the model by using a beam non orthogonal to the sample?

[Probeman]

Using beam shift wouldn't make me step out of the model by using a beam non orthogonal to the sample?

Beam shift analysis should be limited to an area of around 50 microns or less to minimize Bragg defocus effects.  These effects are much larger than any changes in the effective takeoff angle from beam deflection that you mentioned.

If you need sub micron sampling over larger areas than 50 microns or so, then just use stage scanning methods and quantify the pixels.