Trying to combine selected samples

[Mike Jercinovic]

This is me today...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXKeNKvl-J4

So someone (Calvin) is probing today and has run a set of analyses in a domain, but the SD is not great so he wants to run some more points.  I say "no problem Calvin, just run more as a new sample and we will combine them in Analyze."  We have done this before.  Once he has finished, we go into Analyze and highlight the two samples.  We try "Combine the selected samples into a new sample" which is what I thought we used to do.  We get the following...

Warning in AnalyzeCombineSamples: sample Un   52  MT-09-96_m22 core additional does not contain the same number of data rows as combined sample Un   50  MT-09-96_m22 core
Warning in AnalyzeCombineSamples: element u is already present in the combined sample and will not be loaded again
Warning in AnalyzeCombineSamples: element k is already present in the combined sample and will not be loaded again
Warning in AnalyzeCombineSamples: element th is already present in the combined sample and will not be loaded again
Warning in AnalyzeCombineSamples: element Ca is already present in the combined sample and will not be loaded again
Warning in AnalyzeCombineSamples: element S is already present in the combined sample and will not be loaded again
Warning in AnalyzeCombineSamples: element P is already present in the combined sample and will not be loaded again
...and so on for the rest of the 26 elements in the samples

in the new "combined" new sample, it only has the data from the first one.  I realize at this point that what it apparently is doing is combining samples if there are new elements only.  I don't see the importance of the warning about having a difference number of data rows.  OK, so now we move to the "Combine Selected Samples" button, at which time Calvin says, looking at the Analyze window..."what's the difference between Combine analysis lines and Combine Data lines, oh and data rows as it says in the warning?"  So he wants to know why we say analysis lines, data lines, and data rows and why are these not the same things...I don't know because now I am confused too.  You just have to click them to see what they do.  Alright, so now if we highlight the two analyses we want to combine and we click the yellow "Combine Selected Samples", it does what we want, that is it looks at the 5 points run in one sample, and 4 points in the other, and treats them all as a single nine point (line, row, whatever) analysis.  That's fine except there is not a way to have these put together into a single sample analysis for output.  Oh well we can do this offline I suppose, so the real question I guess I have is the use of Combine the Selected Samples into a New Sample.  It does not combine the selected samples into a new sample unless there are only new elements in the second sample.  If anyone has some clarification on this, I would appreciate it.

[John Donovan]

...Oh well we can do this offline I suppose, so the real question I guess I have is the use of Combine the Selected Samples into a New Sample.  It does not combine the selected samples into a new sample unless there are only new elements in the second sample.  If anyone has some clarification on this, I would appreciate it.

Hi Mike,
I agree the buttons could be labeled better.  Basically the "Combine Samples" button combines elements from multiple samples (duplicate elements are skipped).  While the "Combine Analyses" button just combines lines from multiple samples into a single sample (must be the same elements).

If you hold the mouse over the buttons there is a bit more explanation that will pop up. See attached screen shot below...
john

[Mike Jercinovic]

OK thanks John.  There is not a "Combine Analyses" button, but there is a "Combine Analysis Lines From Selected Samples" button.  This works, but what would be really great here would be to be able to take this combined result and create a new sample in the way that "Combine the selected samples into a New Sample" works for additional elements.

[John Donovan]

OK thanks John.  There is not a "Combine Analyses" button, but there is a "Combine Analysis Lines From Selected Samples" button.  This works, but what would be really great here would be to be able to take this combined result and create a new sample in the way that "Combine the selected samples into a New Sample" works for additional elements.

Hi Mike,
Yes, I was "paraphrasing"!   

Anything is possible, but why go to the trouble to make it into a new sample?    You do know about right clicking any selected samples in the Analyze! sample list?

[Mike Jercinovic]

For us, having the combined data in a new sample would allow that dataset to be output with everything else when completing the session.  There are only three output options via the right click in Analyze, and none of them are for U, Th, Pb geochron.  We will just do this offline.

[John Donovan]

So this might be a slightly esoteric feature in Probe for EPMA, but it can be very useful. Anyway we made a small tweak to it for John Fournelle and Will Nachlas.  What am I talking about?  The Combine Selected Samples button from the Analyze! window.

This feature is normally utilized when you analyze some elements under one set of conditions, and then analyze different elements using a different set of beam conditions, for example, major elements at one beam condition and then minor/trace elements at a different beam condition.

Now normally one would just acquire the data for both the major and minor/trace elements using different conditions in a single sample at acquisition time, using the Combined Conditions feature as discussed in this topic:

https://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?topic=5.0

But sometimes one wants to acquire the elements at different beam conditions as separate samples. You can ask Will and John why that might be.

Anyway, when doing this, one merely selects two or more samples from the Analyze! window and clicks the Combine Selected Samples button.  Probe for EPMA then combines the samples into a separate (temporary) sample and calculates the composition as seen here:

Combined Analytical Condition Arrays:
ELEM:       Si      Zr      Hf      Hf      Hf
CONDN:       1       1       1       1       1
CONDO:       1       1       1       1       1
KILO:     17.0    17.0    17.0    17.0    17.0
CURR:     40.0    40.0   200.0   200.0   200.0
SIZE:      5.0     5.0     5.0     5.0     5.0

Un   34 (Un   34  GSJ 1, Un  136  GSJ 1), Results in Elemental Weight Percents
 
ELEM:       Si      Zr      Hf      Hf      Hf       O
TYPE:     ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    CALC
BGDS:      LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN
TIME:    10.00   10.00   10.00     .00     .00     ---
BEAM:    50.27   50.27  203.01     .00     .00     ---
AGGR:                        3                     ---

ELEM:       Si      Zr      Hf      Hf      Hf       O   SUM 
XRAY:     (ka)    (la)    (ma)    (ma)    (ma)      ()
  1581  15.030  48.785    .607    .000    .000  34.347  98.769
  1582  15.128  49.162    .609    .000    .000  34.591  99.489
  1583  15.330  49.732    .590    .000    .000  35.018 100.670
  1584  15.421  49.337    .593    .000    .000  34.984 100.335
  1585  15.334  49.468    .591    .000    .000  34.930 100.323
  1586  15.187  49.152    .573    .000    .000  34.648  99.559

AVER:   15.238  49.273    .594    .000    .000  34.753  99.858
SDEV:     .148    .322    .013    .000    .000    .267    .709
SERR:     .060    .131    .005    .000    .000    .109
%RSD:      .97     .65    2.21   .0000   .0000     .77
STDS:      391     391     387       0       0     ---

STKF:    .1356   .4170   .6346   .0000   .0000     ---
STCT: 149578.4 21265.3316584.2      .0      .0     ---

UNKF:    .1343   .4111   .0053   .0000   .0000     ---
UNCT: 148129.9 20965.8  2649.5      .0      .0     ---
UNBG:   1140.9   111.8  1699.4      .0      .0     ---

ZCOR:   1.1350  1.1985  1.1177   .0000   .0000     ---
KRAW:    .9903   .9859   .0084   .0000   .0000     ---
PKBG:   130.92  188.86    2.56     .00     .00     ---

In this example the Si and Zr were acquired at 40 nA, while 3 channels were utilized to acquire Hf at 200 nA, and then the "aggregate" feature was utilized to aggregate the Hf intensities from the three Hf channels as discussed here:

https://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?topic=155.0

This all works fine. That is the software acquires each of the samples at all the conditions (normally used for thin film acquisition), or it can acquire all the samples at each condition (normally used for the constant k-ratio acquisition). You get to decide. See this new "Run Multiple Setups One at a Time" feature here:



Then for quantification you simply combine the samples with different beam conditions in the Analyze! window using the Combine Selected Sample button as shown below.

Anyway, then John and Will asked me if they could utilize the "Use All Matrix Corrections" checkbox with this combined analysis feature.  This is where the software runs the selected samples using all 10 matrix corrections supported in PFE. However, it didn't work for combined analyses in PFE until today.



Now you can get all the matrix corrections for the samples selected using the Combined Selected Samples button as seen here:

Summary of All Calculated (averaged) Matrix Corrections:
(Un   34  GSJ 1, Un  136  GSJ 1)
LINEMU   Henke (LBL, 1985) < 10KeV / CITZMU > 10KeV

Elemental Weight Percents:
ELEM:       Si      Zr      Hf      Hf      Hf       O   TOTAL
     1  15.238  49.273    .594    .000    .000  34.753  99.858   Armstrong/Love Scott (default)
     2  15.234  49.256    .610    .000    .000  34.746  99.846   Conventional Philibert/Duncumb-Reed
     3  15.238  49.272    .606    .000    .000  34.755  99.872   Heinrich/Duncumb-Reed
     4  15.232  49.253    .616    .000    .000  34.743  99.844   Love-Scott I
     5  15.234  49.260    .616    .000    .000  34.748  99.859   Love-Scott II
     6  15.220  49.214    .652    .000    .000  34.722  99.809   Packwood Phi(pz) (EPQ-91)
     7  15.241  49.281    .587    .000    .000  34.758  99.867   Bastin (original) Phi(pz)
     8  15.240  49.282    .607    .000    .000  34.761  99.890   Bastin PROZA Phi(pz) (EPQ-91)
     9  15.234  49.258    .610    .000    .000  34.746  99.847   Pouchou and Pichoir-Full (PAP)
    10  15.233  49.254    .615    .000    .000  34.745  99.848   Pouchou and Pichoir-Simplified (XPP)

AVER:   15.235  49.260    .611    .000    .000  34.748  99.854
SDEV:     .006    .020    .017    .000    .000    .011    .021
SERR:     .002    .006    .005    .000    .000    .003

MIN:    15.220  49.214    .587    .000    .000  34.722  99.809
MAX:    15.241  49.282    .652    .000    .000  34.761  99.890

I guess this might be useful to others as well.

[wonachlas]

John,

Thanks for looking into this. I noticed a quirk when using the "Combine the Selected Samples into a New Sample" button to combine a routine for major elements at 20 nA with a routine for trace elements at 200 nA. I am using the 200 micron aperture, not the normal 150 micron beam regulation aperture, so I am setting the beam current manually by changing C2 condenser lens and reading the measured Faraday current. For this I am selecting "Do Not Set Conditions during Acquisition" in the Acquisition Options window. I first noticed a problem when I did not update the beam current in the Analytical Conditions window. When I combined the trace element measurement that was acquired at 200 nA (199.6 nA actual) but still reads the default 20 nA in the Analytical Conditions, it uses the current from only the first 20 nA condition instead of the 199.6 nA measured current from the second sample. The calculated result of this measurement shows all the trace elements are too high.

Analytical Conditions set to 20 nA, traces actually measured at 200 nA

Combined Analytical Condition Arrays:
ELEM:       Si      Al      Ca      Ti       F      Fe      Ce      Nd      Zr       Y      Nb      Ce      Nd
CONDN:       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1
CONDO:       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1
KILO:     15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0
CURR:     20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0
SIZE:      1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0

Un   96 (Un   35  test 8_108 Ttn RM_majors, Un   36  test 8_108 Ttn RM_t, Results in Elemental Weight Percents
 
ELEM:       Si      Al      Ca      Ti       F      Fe      Ce      Nd      Zr       Y      Nb      Ce      Nd       O
TYPE:     ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    CALC
BGDS:      LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     EXP     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN
TIME:    10.00   10.00   10.00   10.00   10.00   10.00   60.00   60.00   40.00   40.00   40.00     .00     .00     ---
BEAM:    19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87     .00     .00     ---
AGGR:                                                        2       2                                             ---

ELEM:       Si      Al      Ca      Ti       F      Fe      Ce      Nd      Zr       Y      Nb      Ce      Nd       O   SUM 
XRAY:     (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)      ()
   827  14.883    .680  19.763  20.956    .479   1.032   3.244   1.840    .233   1.045    .896    .000    .000  41.359 106.411

AVER:   14.883    .680  19.763  20.956    .479   1.032   3.244   1.840    .233   1.045    .896    .000    .000  41.359 106.411
SDEV:     .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000
SERR:     .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000
%RSD:      .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00   .0000   .0000     .00
STDS:     9710    5633    9710    9710    1050    5533     356     364    5607     800    9706       0       0     ---

STKF:    .1202   .2685   .2040   .2088   .5101   .6459   .5229   .5268   .4201   .3663   .5961   .0000   .0000     ---
STCT:   9683.1 22214.2  9637.7 12186.0 19589.5  5886.5  2217.0  2532.0  1842.7  1441.0  3185.2      .0      .0     ---

UNKF:    .1217   .0048   .1966   .1816   .0009   .0089   .0246   .0135   .0018   .0080   .0073   .0000   .0000     ---
UNCT:   9803.8   396.4  9286.0 10599.6    35.4    81.2   104.2    64.8     8.1    31.3    38.8      .0      .0     ---
UNBG:    113.4    61.0    45.5    80.3    23.8    17.1    95.3   115.4    39.5    33.6    52.2      .0      .0     ---

ZCOR:   1.2229  1.4201  1.0052  1.1541  5.1983  1.1581  1.3197  1.3639  1.2654  1.3121  1.2342   .0000   .0000     ---
KRAW:   1.0125   .0178   .9635   .8698   .0018   .0138   .0470   .0256   .0044   .0218   .0122   .0000   .0000     ---
PKBG:    87.47    7.50  205.16  133.07    2.48    5.75    2.09    1.56    1.20    1.93    1.74     .00     .00     ---
INT%:     ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----     ---

The second output shows what happens when I correctly update the Analytical Conditions to match the actual conditions:

Analytical Conditions set to 200 nA, traces actually measured at 200 nA

Un   95 (Un   35  test 9_108 Ttn RM_majors, Un   36  test 9_108 Ttn RM_t, Results in Elemental Weight Percents
Combined Analytical Condition Arrays:
ELEM:       Si      Al      Ca      Ti       F      Fe      Ce      Nd      Zr       Y      Nb      Ce      Nd
CONDN:       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1
CONDO:       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1
KILO:     15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0
CURR:     20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    200.0    200.0    200.0    200.0    200.0    200.0    200.0
SIZE:      1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0

 
ELEM:       Si      Al      Ca      Ti       F      Fe      Ce      Nd      Zr       Y      Nb      Ce      Nd       O
TYPE:     ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    CALC
BGDS:      LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     EXP     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN
TIME:    10.00   10.00   10.00   10.00   10.00   10.00   60.00   60.00   40.00   40.00   40.00     .00     .00     ---
BEAM:    19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87  199.61  199.61  199.61  199.61  199.61     .00     .00     ---
AGGR:                                                        2       2                                             ---

ELEM:       Si      Al      Ca      Ti       F      Fe      Ce      Nd      Zr       Y      Nb      Ce      Nd       O   SUM 
XRAY:     (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)      ()
   826  14.618    .662  19.801  21.839    .503   1.046    .325    .185    .023    .103    .088    .000    .000  40.199  99.392

AVER:   14.618    .662  19.801  21.839    .503   1.046    .325    .185    .023    .103    .088    .000    .000  40.199  99.392
SDEV:     .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000
SERR:     .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000
%RSD:      .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00   .0000   .0000     .00
STDS:     9710    5633    9710    5502    1050    5533     356     364    5607     800    9706       0       0     ---

STKF:    .1202   .2685   .2040   .5548   .5101   .6459   .5229   .5268   .4201   .3663   .5961   .0000   .0000     ---
STCT:   9683.1 22214.2  9637.7 31476.6 19589.5  5886.5  2217.0  2532.0  1842.7  1441.0  3185.2      .0      .0     ---

UNKF:    .1217   .0048   .1966   .1868   .0009   .0089   .0024   .0013   .0002   .0008   .0007   .0000   .0000     ---
UNCT:   9803.8   396.4  9286.0 10599.6    35.4    81.2    10.3     6.4      .8     3.1     3.8      .0      .0     ---
UNBG:    113.4    61.0    45.5    80.3    23.8    17.1     9.4    11.4     3.9     3.3     5.2      .0      .0     ---

ZCOR:   1.2012  1.3820  1.0072  1.1690  5.4640  1.1732  1.3366  1.3863  1.2583  1.3026  1.2221   .0000   .0000     ---
KRAW:   1.0125   .0178   .9635   .3367   .0018   .0138   .0047   .0025   .0004   .0022   .0012   .0000   .0000     ---
PKBG:    87.47    7.50  205.16  133.07    2.48    5.75    2.09    1.56    1.20    1.93    1.74     .00     .00     ---
INT%:     ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----     ---


As a final test, I selected 21 nA for the second condition, and it uses the correct 199.6 measured current.

Analytical Conditions set to 21 nA, traces actually measured at 200 nA

Combined Analytical Condition Arrays:
ELEM:       Si      Al      Ca      Ti       F      Fe      Ce      Nd      Zr       Y      Nb      Ce      Nd
CONDN:       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1
CONDO:       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1       1
KILO:     15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0    15.0
CURR:     20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    20.0    21.0    21.0    21.0    21.0    21.0    21.0    21.0
SIZE:      1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0     1.0

Un   97 (Un   35  test 10_108 Ttn RM_majors, Un   36  test 10_108 Ttn RM, Results in Elemental Weight Percents
 
ELEM:       Si      Al      Ca      Ti       F      Fe      Ce      Nd      Zr       Y      Nb      Ce      Nd       O
TYPE:     ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    ANAL    CALC
BGDS:      LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     EXP     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN     LIN
TIME:    10.00   10.00   10.00   10.00   10.00   10.00   60.00   60.00   40.00   40.00   40.00     .00     .00     ---
BEAM:    19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87   19.87  199.61  199.61  199.61  199.61  199.61     .00     .00     ---
AGGR:                                                        2       2                                             ---

ELEM:       Si      Al      Ca      Ti       F      Fe      Ce      Nd      Zr       Y      Nb      Ce      Nd       O   SUM 
XRAY:     (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (ka)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)    (la)      ()
   828  14.618    .662  19.801  21.839    .503   1.046    .325    .185    .023    .103    .088    .000    .000  40.199  99.392

AVER:   14.618    .662  19.801  21.839    .503   1.046    .325    .185    .023    .103    .088    .000    .000  40.199  99.392
SDEV:     .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000
SERR:     .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000    .000
%RSD:      .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00     .00   .0000   .0000     .00
STDS:     9710    5633    9710    5502    1050    5533     356     364    5607     800    9706       0       0     ---

STKF:    .1202   .2685   .2040   .5548   .5101   .6459   .5229   .5268   .4201   .3663   .5961   .0000   .0000     ---
STCT:   9683.1 22214.2  9637.7 31476.6 19589.5  5886.5  2217.0  2532.0  1842.7  1441.0  3185.2      .0      .0     ---

UNKF:    .1217   .0048   .1966   .1868   .0009   .0089   .0024   .0013   .0002   .0008   .0007   .0000   .0000     ---
UNCT:   9803.8   396.4  9286.0 10599.6    35.4    81.2    10.3     6.4      .8     3.1     3.8      .0      .0     ---
UNBG:    113.4    61.0    45.5    80.3    23.8    17.1     9.4    11.4     3.9     3.3     5.2      .0      .0     ---

ZCOR:   1.2012  1.3820  1.0072  1.1690  5.4640  1.1732  1.3366  1.3863  1.2583  1.3026  1.2221   .0000   .0000     ---
KRAW:   1.0125   .0178   .9635   .3367   .0018   .0138   .0047   .0025   .0004   .0022   .0012   .0000   .0000     ---
PKBG:    87.47    7.50  205.16  133.07    2.48    5.75    2.09    1.56    1.20    1.93    1.74     .00     .00     ---
INT%:     ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----    ----     ---

It appears that as long as the beam current is specified to be different between the two conditions, it will correctly use the measured currents from each of the separate conditions.

I acknowledge this is mostly a user-related error associated with "Do Not Set Analytical Conditions", but still something that could introduce problems and would be obscured if the dataset was not appropriate to notice it.

[John Donovan]

Be sure to use the "Tt" text format when displaying quant data so the columns line up nicely (I edited your post for this).

Not sure what we can do to help prevent this user error. Are you suggesting we need to check something during this sort of acquisition?  Not sure what that might be. 

The "CURR:" beam currents line merely note the specified beam currents and are for documentation purposes and not utilized in any calculations, while the measured beam currents on the "BEAM:" line are what are actually utilized for the beam normalization.

This all reminds me of back in the day (~1980s) when we did almost everything manually, but people would occasionally forget to do something, so I started writing automation code so that these sorts of mistakes could be avoided.

Remind me again why you can't just use the combined conditions sample feature in Probe for EPMA to automate this sort of multiple beam condition acquisition?

[wonachlas]

It seems there is a trigger to use the measured beam current only if the CURR is specified to be different. For the example where both were specified to be 20 nA, it did not use the measured current from the second sample, only from the first. If you could modify it so that it automatically uses the measured current when combining two samples, that might prevent future users from encountering this problem. 

There are many reasons to use different apertures other than the regulating aperture. If I am running long (>15 hr) runs at very high beam current, this can contaminate the regulating aperture and reduce its useful lifetime, so I will use the 200 um instead. If I am working at super high beam current, I might use no aperture in position. If I am trying to get the smallest possible spot diameter or working at very low beam current, I will use the smallest aperture (70 um). It is faster to change between C2 values than wait for beam regulation when switching currents. The source has excellent stability, so even with the 150 um aperture I am often working with beam regulation off, anyway. No doubt that I use combined conditions for many projects when appropriate, but for some it is not.

[John Donovan]

Huh.  I think I would still just use "Combined Conditions" acquisition method and just clean the beam regulator aperture a bit more often!

OK I think I found the problem. It was getting confused because you had the same specified beam currents, but different measured beam currents on different elements.

Yes. It doesn't force a combined condition sample just because the measured beam currents are different, because for different samples they often are a little different due to beam drift.

So we put a test version of Probewin.exe in the PFE Dropbox where it just forces this flag for any "combined analyses" sample.  This should not hurt when the beam currents are similar, but it should help when they are different.

Please grab it, and let me know if this works better for you.