John
Last year, we had talked via Zoom about my lab buying a new probe and the various PfE compatible EDS units. I had three choices: JEOL, Thermo and Bruker. In my discussions with JEOL, they had mentioned that only the JEOL EDS unit could do combined WDS and EDS stage mapping with their software. The Thermo and Bruker could only do beam mapping. The Cameca SX-100 I have works with the Bruker EDS I have, and does combined WDS/EDS stage mapping pretty seamlessly. Can PfE do combined WDS-EDS stage mapping with the Bruker or JEOL EDS? You had mentioned that Thermo is no longer making EDS units, so we don't need to be concerned about them any longer. Joe
Yeah, we spent the better part of two years working with Thermo to implement an integrated WDS and EDS mapping method in our Probe Image software. We actually got it to work (almost) and published an abstract/poster on this (login to see pdfs attached below), and we just needed a few final "tweaks" to the Thermo Portal interface and it should have been good to go. And then came the pandemic, and then Thermo decided to stop developing their software/hardware on non-FEI instruments...
So, what's next? Basically now that Thermo is a dead end, we would like to implement an EDS-WDS mapping integration with either/both JEOL or Bruker. But to get the attention of these OEMs for a new development project would require some additional effort by them and that will only happen if a new customer inserts language into their new probe purchase agreement getting them to commit to this development.
I think you should plan on having discussions with both JEOL and Bruker this summer about helping Probe Software to perform this integration. The situation right now is fluid and you could get exactly what you want if you are insistent. But you gotta get it in writing!
Here's what I know currently about the JEOL EDS situation: JEOL recently re-wrote their instrument/EDS interface to use what they call the microscopy external control (MEC) and Probe Software has successfully implemented this new interface in Probe for EPMA for point EDS spectrum acquisition and quantification late last year. We now need to implement something similar for WDS and EDS mapping integration and quantification. There are several possibilities for this to happen.
1. Implement a hardware synchronized WDS and EDS spectrum imaging method into Probe Image as we did with Thermo. Combined with standard calibrations from WDS and EDS in Probe for EPMA, and re-processed in CalcImage, you could obtain fully quantified WDS and EDS maps. The advantage of this method is that pixel in the maps gets a fully quantitative including dead time, background, beam drift, standard drift, phi-rho-z matrix corrections. And interference and TDI corrections.
We should sit down with JEOL and discuss this, because in looking at the MEC interface specifications I only see the ability to acquire an EDS spectrum image, but without any WDS spectrometer synchronization. Since we know JEOL can do WDS and EDS synchronized maps in their software, we would need them to extend that capability to the MEC external interface for interfacing with Probe Image.
2. As for Bruker something similar would need to occur. Basically it's a question of implementing a hardware that can synchronize the stage/beam mapping pixel triggers with the EDS spectrometer to save the spectrum image. This is what we did with Thermo as Thermo was able to provide such a synchronization box that triggered off the Cameca WDS frame, line and pixel synchronization pulses.
The other possibility is to have the JEOL software acquire the WDS and EDS integrated maps and then have the maps converted into the Probe Image file format as we do already for JEOL/Cameca acquired WDS maps, and then they are quantified in CalcImage. The missing key is to have a JEOL MEC function where we could specify a JEOL map acquisition folder and it could take that spectrum image and extract EDS net intensity (in cps live time units!) maps for the specified EDS elements. Which we could then convert into the Probe Image file format for subsequent quantification in CalcImage.
For Bruker Esprit to perform integrated WDS and EDS spectrum mapping with stage scanning, that would be something to discuss with Bruker. Again, get it in writing! The other alternative is to simply buy a JEOL EDS and a third party EDS (Bruker) and put both on your instrument and just use them "as is".
Lots to discuss, but I welcome all of these potential development efforts as this is something that would allow JEOL users to acquire fully quantified x-ray WDS/EDS maps with background, matrix, spectral interference and TDI corrections built into every pixel using Probe Software's algorithms and methods.
