FEI (Philips) XL30 Teaching SEM with BSE mode and EDAX analysis

http://www.emal.engin.umich.edu/courses/courses.htmlContact Ying Qi or Justin Scanlon for training. For booking go here. You will need an MSE user account. Please fill out the form in the attachments and bring the original copy when you come for your training. Fill out the usersection and have your advisor fill out the section provided. An account shortcode and account contact will be required as well. ALL TRAINING MUST BE GIVEN BY MSE TECH STAFF.

See new SOP linked above.

OLD SEM SOP:

A. Before obtaining an initial image, review the toolbar, icons and menu system 

1. SEM icon row:

• Appears at the top of software
• Show or hide by pressing SHIFT-F1

• Located just above databar
• Repeats tasks of icon row
• Show or hidge by pressing F1
• Activate by pressing the corresponding function key or clicking on top of the phrase:

3. Breakdown of icons:

Use videoscope to help manually adjust contrast & brightness. Adjust information about the settings shown on the image. Use for measurements in X & Y directions.	Scanning Modes: Change between a high and low resolution scan. Go between scanning a small region and the entire screen. Freeze image at current scanning position  (will appear yellow) or unfreeze to  continue scanning.	Auto Functions: It is strongly encouraged not to  rely upon these features. Use the manual  adjustments for optimal imaging. Auto corrects the contrast and brightness. Auto correct the focus. Auto corrects the stigmation of the SEM.
Stage Movement: When to use each: Use Off mode when movement is not desired Use Get mode when placement  near the center is desired Use Shift mode when very slight  adjustment in position are at very  high magnifications Use Track mode most of the time	Control Area: Starting screen, contains Pump & Vent  buttons as well as voltage adjustments. Commonly used for adjustments with magnification, scan rotation and stigmation. Should only be used by MSE tech staff and SEM service person. Used for X, Y and Z adjustments.

B. Specimen preparation for SEM:

Conductive specimens that are in a metallagraphic mount: Common materials include black phenolic powder (bakelite) and  epoxy. Some can be conductive by  containing carbon. Make a connection from the  sample to the aluminum stub  Can use double sided graphite  tape, copper tape or graphite paste

Free standing conductive samples: Need to make a connection with the sample to the aluminum stub Can use double sided graphite or  copper tape or graphite tabs

Conductive specimens that are in a free standing or mounted *non-conductive samples: Attach specimens following step 2,  above, and place in Hummer VI sputter coater and carbon coater Can coat with either Au/Pd or carbon Follow procedure for sputter coater  and carbon coater *If looking at the edge of a mounted specimen lightly coating it might help to eliminate image distortion and charge  buildup in the nonconductive mounting material Examples of prepared samples:

C. Installing a specimen into the SEM:

1. Drop-down menu of presets. Can be changed by clicking "Change..." Say "Ok" and go back to the drop down menu  and adjusting.

2. Control Area Imaging: Magnification "slider"  The gray middle bar slides the magnification up and down. If you press the gray arrows it increments by the smallest amount If you click on the space between the arrow and the slider, it moves  by the largest increments. The increment depends on the magnification you are working with 3. Stage Track Mode If you place the cursor in very center of the circles of the control  window and move them slightly up or down, you will notice a +  and - sign appear. Left click to (+)increase or (-)decrease magnification.On the  keyboard number pad, the (+) and (-) keys doubles and halves  the magnification accordingly.

• Use the number pad method for general alterations in magnification
• Use the magnification slider at higher magnifications for smaller increments in magnification change
• Use the drop-menu to attain "cleaner" looking magnification numbers or if its not possible using a different method.

1. Beam pull down menu: Choosing  or creating a preset in the  (Can be  changed by clicking "Change..."  similarly to Magnification). Also  contains a list of spotsize presets.

2. Control Area Settings: Beam Expanding the Beam information box by  left clicking on the square located in the upper right corner. There is a slider for  accelerating voltage and spotsize adjustment .  These adjustments act in a similar manner  to those of the magnification. Use the slider to raise or lower the voltage Press left/right arrow to change voltage by 0.1kV Press in the grey area to move the voltage by 1kV

• Use low voltage (less than 7kV) for:
• Non conductive material, even if it has been coated it might still need to be low
• Samples that have charging problems
• Interested in gathering more surface information about sample
• Use higher voltages (greater than 7kV) for:
• Conductive samples
• Interested in gathering more bulk sample information
• Set the spot size:
• Small spot size (1 - 4) at high magnification, non-conductive samples and samples that have charge buildup
• Large spot size (4 - 6 or greater) for conductive materials at low magnification

• Drop-down menu of different scanning rates:
  
• TV scan (fastest scan, lowest resolution) --> Slow Scan 4 (slowest scan, highest resolution)
• Switch between TV & Slow Scan by clicking on the TV button or pressing F8
• Full frame scans the entire screen.
• Selected area scans a particular region.
• When to use each:
• Use TV scan to move around sample
• Use Slow Scan 1 or 2 for contrast/brightness adjustments
• Use Videoscope (F3) to help manually adjust the contrast brightness
• Bottom and top dashed lines represent the greyscale from 0 to 255
• In order not to lose any important data, make sure you stay between the lines
• Use Slow Scan 3 (in selected area mode (F6) at slightly higher magnification) for final focus and astigmatism adjustments

• Drop-down menu of SE (secondary electron); BSE (backscattered electrons);  Mixed (A mixture of BSE and SE); Do not use IMG. BSE must be placed onto the final lens before use.

• Drop-down menu of filters. Choose between Live, Integrate, Average, Freeze, and Stand Definition. These settings are dependent on what scan rate is currently being used.

• Drop-down menu.

• Image: Save data to drive E: which is the C:\users located on the EDAX computer. Check options on whether to show databar on image or not.
• DOS Commands: Create a new folder ( .\newfolder\ ); To go up a folder level (  ..  )
• Limited to 8 characters per file or folder name.
• Have to click save or it will attempt to restore image.

• Databar: Choose settings for the Databar, including checked off options as acceleration voltage (Acc V.), spotsize (Spot), detector (Det), working distance (WD), exposure number (Exp), and whether to have a databar background (Background).  Display databar may be checked to show where on the image the databar will appear.
• In the user space, more information about the specimen can be input.
• The databar can also be accessed by double-clicking on the databar directly.
• Videoprint! : Prints a copy of whatever is currently on the screen to the small Sony Video Graphic Printer located to the right of the SEM monitor.

• X,Y, Z stage controls can be found here to help adjust the sample position in the chamber

• The University of Michigan Electron Microbeam Analysis Laboratory (EMAL) -  Microscopy Teaching and Learning Resources

• JEOL's Introductory Guide to the SEM
• Molecular Expressions "Virtual SEM"
• ASPEX Sample SEM images of objects people sent to them.