PCC format. What is it?

[Malcolm Roberts]

John
Apologies for being thick but I can find no mention of .pcc files, what these are, what they do and how they might be of benefit or use to me. May I be enlightened?
Cheers,
Malc.

[John Donovan]

Apologies for being thick but I can find no mention of .pcc files, what these are, what they do and how they might be of benefit or use to me. May I be enlightened?

Good question!

PCC files are small ASCII text  files that contain a "snapshot" of your instrument column conditions, and they can be re-called later to load a specific set of column conditions beyond what one can define using the common analytical condition parameters such as kilovolts, beam current, beam size, scan mode, etc..

Here is an example of a PCC file saved from the Window menu in PFE on an 8230 instrument:

"Condenser Coarse "         ,              25
"Condenser Fine   "         ,              174
"Magnification    "         ,              850
"High Voltage     "         ,              20
"Probe Current    "         ,              1.979E-08
"Probe Diameter   "         ,              0
"Objective Lens   "         ,              10.9317
"Astigmation X    "         ,             -21
"Astigmation Y    "         ,              142
"Image Shift X    "         ,              0
"Image Shift Y    "         ,              0
"Probe Scan       "         ,              1
"Sampling Mode    "         ,              0
"Scan Rotation    "         ,              0
"Filament Current "         ,              2.078079
"Beam Position X  "         ,              0
"Beam Position Y  "         ,              0
"Probe Curr. Mode "         ,              0
"Column Mode      "         ,              1
"Image Channel    "         ,              1
"ReservedInteger1 "         ,              0
"ReservedInteger2 "         ,              0
"ReservedInteger3 "         ,              0
"ReservedInteger4 "         ,              0
"Emission Current "         ,              9.1875
"ReservedFloat2   "         ,              0
"ReservedFloat3   "         ,              0
"ReservedFloat4   "         ,              0

You can load these PCC files also from the Analytical Conditions dialog and utilize them in the Automate! window by assigning them to selected position samples using the Conditions button. Here is an example from an SX100 instrument:

"Col_stat "   ,              0
"Col_sel "    ,              9568
"Col_scan "   ,              0
"Cathode "    ,              0
"Heat "       ,              238
"Hv "         ,              15000
"Igun "       ,              80
"Gun_xh "     ,              176
"Gun_yh "     ,              399
"Gun_xl "     ,              1
"Gun_yl "     ,             -46
"Shift_x "    ,              0
"Shift_y "    ,              0
"C1 "         ,              1071
"C2 "         ,              1071
"Creg "       ,              1625
"Ireg "       ,              300000
"Focus "      ,              3188
"Focus_fine " ,              1306
"Focus_dyna " ,              0
"Focus_siz0 " ,              3214
"Size "       ,              10
"Asti_amp "   ,              256
"Asti_ang "   ,              3586
"Asti_off "   ,              0
"Scan_amp "   ,              0
"Q1 "         ,              47005
"Q2 "         ,              65192
"Q3 "         ,              19156
"Zdis "       ,              1156
"Reserved1 "  ,              360964
"Reserved2 "  ,              1224290
"Def       "  ,              2
"Speed     "  ,              1
"Mode      "  ,              1048583
"Probe X   "  ,              0
"Probe Y   "  ,              0
"Center X  "  ,              0
"Center Y  "  ,              0
"KikuCentX "  ,              0
"KikuCentY "  ,              0
"Rota      "  ,              90
"Rota Off  "  ,              0
"Dist(FOV) "  ,              1505546
"Dist Visu "  ,              300
"Kiku Ang  "  ,              0
"X Def     "  ,              0
"Y Def     "  ,              0
"Time Img  "  ,              0
"Time Line "  ,              0
"Time Pix  "  ,              0
"Reserved1 "  ,              0
"Reserved2 "  ,              0
"Reserved3 "  ,              0

By default these files are saved in the C:\UserData\ColumnPCCData folder.  There is a small amount of documentation in the PFE Help file on this feature. Just hit F1, click the Search tab and type PCC <enter> and then double-click the first topic found.
john

[Probeman]

Here are some screenshots to show you where the PCC file (which stands for Probe Column Condition by the way), can be accessed.

First from the Probe for EPMA Window menu as seen here:



I usually start the morning by loading the last saved PCC file, which will properly warm up the filament and set all the necessary gun parameters.  Note that for FEG or LaB6 guns (ThermalFieldEmissionPresent=1 in the Probewin.ini file), the filament parameters are not utilized.

One can also save/load Probe Column Condition (PCC) files from most of the Analytical Condition dialogs as seen here:



Finally one can assign Probe Column Condition (PCC) files to position samples in the Automate! window from the Conditions button as seen here:

[Malcolm Roberts]

Brilliant.... thanks John........