JEOL 8530, "low probe current (<0.1nA) - filament may be burned out"

[Nathan C.]

Hi, We have a JEOL 8530 that in the last couple weeks has started having random errors for "low probe current" that are terminating the run.  Yesterday we tried changing the probewin.ini file to up the delay to 1.5 from 1.0, but we still had the issue.  Is there anything more we can do to address this, or is it likely a JEOL hardware issue and we should have them out for service?

We have a stack of runs that need to be completed, so if there's suggestions for a band-aid temporarily to get us through until this can be addressed by JEOL We'd be greatful!

Also - my colleague mentioned he has a vague memory that when John Donovan was out for training when we initially took ownership of the system, he had had to do some adjustment for an issue similar if not the same as this during his visit.  Could we possibly have overwritten the changes to the .ini file when we updated to newer version of the software?

[Nathan C.]

Digging through things a bit more, could it be that I need to increase the FaradayWaitInTime=2.5 to something a bit higher rather the BeamCurrentChangeDelay that I made?

[UofO EPMA Lab]

Digging through things a bit more, could it be that I need to increase the FaradayWaitInTime=2.5 to something a bit higher rather the BeamCurrentChangeDelay that I made?

I would try that.

We've seen Faraday "wait in" delays to to 2.5 or 2.6 seconds necessary when the Faraday cup gets sticky.  Of course you should also probably call JEOL service and get that fixed.

[Nathan C.]

Thanks - I upped to 3.0 (was set with a note that the 8530 requires 2.5), will see if that solves it - and when able to slow down will get JEOL to service the scope.