JEOL EDS WDS 8530/8320

[Ben Buse]

Hi JEOL EDS-WDS users

On JEOL with PFE integrating JEOL EDS, how do you disengage after image or point has been acquired?

PC-SEM is locked

If I click on comparison button in PC-SEM I can move with mouse, but still can't change z or use tracker ball or change magnification, without closing PFE.

Do we need within PFE a disengage and reengage button?

Thanks

Ben

[Alejandro Cortes]

Hi Ben,

I also have the same problem. The only way we found to fully unfroze the system was by closing PfE. We also found that if you click cancel (many times) in the main PfE windows you recover a bit of the PC-SEM software from JEOL. I have this issues as soon as I let PfE know that I want to connect to the EDS, so what I tried to do to go around that problem was only do that after I am ready to measure. I can't also now digitise an image to select points on it after I did the integration with the EDS. I tried to copy Glenn's probewin.ini file to see if the change in config helped but no luck.

[John Donovan]

On JEOL with PFE integrating JEOL EDS, how do you disengage after image or point has been acquired?

PC-SEM is locked

If I click on comparison button in PC-SEM I can move with mouse, but still can't change z or use tracker ball or change magnification, without closing PFE.

Do we need within PFE a disengage and reengage button?

Hi Ben,
This (freezing their software) is something JEOL started doing at the request of a user back in the early days and we thought it was a very strange thing to do, but they insisted on doing it.

There should be an "unfreeze" button somewhere in the JEOL software.  But to make this automatic, we had to add calls to explicitly unfreeze the JEOL software after each acquisition.  In your Probewin.ini file, check that you have this flag set in the [hardware] section:

JEOLUnfreezeAfterFlag=1

See also:

https://smf.probesoftware.com/index.php?topic=40.msg9910#msg9910

That should fix it.  If it doesn't, check that you have no other JEOLUnfreezeAfterFlag keywords in your Probewin.ini file.  If that still doesn't fix the freezing problem please set the DebugMode keyword in the [general] section of your Probewin.ini file and then start PFE, start a single point and send me the log window output so I can see what you are seeing.

[Ben Buse]

JEOL freeze/unfreeze doesn't seem to be the problem.

Here's regarding separate issue error message on JEOL software when PFE running EDS analysis after autofocus - saying stage is still moving.
In Probewin.ini file change EDS delay to ensure autofocus is complete before EDS analysis starts
Default value is

Code Select Expand

JEOLEDSMilliSecDelayBefore=300changed to

Code Select Expand

JEOLEDSMilliSecDelayBefore=600

[John Donovan]

JEOL freeze/unfreeze doesn't seem to be the problem.

Yes, these are separate issues.  For the JEOL software being "frozen" please confirm that the JEOLUnfreezeAfterFlag is set to a non-zero number:

JEOLUnfreezeAfterFlag=1

in the Probewin.ini file.

Here's regarding separate issue error message on JEOL software when PFE running EDS analysis after autofocus - saying stage is still moving.
In Probewin.ini file change EDS delay to ensure autofocus is complete before EDS analysis starts
Default value is

Code Select Expand

JEOLEDSMilliSecDelayBefore=300changed to

Code Select Expand

JEOLEDSMilliSecDelayBefore=600

Yes, this value should fix the JEOL software warning about the stage still moving when starting the EDS acquisition.  At least it does for Yuan Liu as she has confirmed.

Please send me your Probewin.ini file to my email and let's continue this discussion off-line.  We can update this topic once we figure this out.

It could very well be that your quite old JEOL 8530 stage is getting a bit "sticky" and requires a service visit!

[Ben Buse]

Sorry I should have said, change to 600msec solved it,
(8530 is a great machine, with a great autofocus, and well looked after by our excellent JEOL service engineer)

[John Donovan]

Sorry I should have said, change to 600msec solved it,
(8530 is a great machine, with a great autofocus, and well looked after by our excellent JEOL service engineer)

Great to hear. I suspect that you need a slightly longer JEOLEDSMilliSecDelayBefore value in your Probewin.ini file than Yanan, because your stage is a little "sticky", but yes, the 8530 is a great machine.

[Ben Buse]

When using the EDS interface (interface 7) to acquire images, how to you set the image acquisition speed?

[John Donovan]

When using the EDS interface (interface 7) to acquire images, how to you set the image acquisition speed?

Unfortunately JEOL Japan did not implement a frame time parameter for the video imaging interface for the 8230/8530. We had asked for them to provide that, and they were working on a "extended" function call when they decided to develop a new video imaging interface for the iSP100/iHP200F instrument and stopped any further development for the 8230/8530.

Therefore, you will need to adjust the video frame speed on the JEOL software, and then acquire the video image in PFE.  Note though that sometimes a partial video frame will be acquired when using a slower frame speed, so you may need to adjust this scan delay parameter to obtain a complete video frame:

https://smf.probesoftware.com/index.php?topic=40.msg10743#msg10743

[Ben Buse]

For the  JEOL 8230/8530 software to unlock control boards, PCD, brightness and contrast, after EDS analysis or image acquisition with the EDS interface, it requires v1.0.0.3 of  LibJED2003WrapServer.dll, or possibly > v1.0.0.1.

[John Donovan]

Hi Ben,

I also have the same problem. The only way we found to fully unfroze the system was by closing PfE. We also found that if you click cancel (many times) in the main PfE windows you recover a bit of the PC-SEM software from JEOL. I have this issues as soon as I let PfE know that I want to connect to the EDS, so what I tried to do to go around that problem was only do that after I am ready to measure. I can't also now digitise an image to select points on it after I did the integration with the EDS. I tried to copy Glenn's probewin.ini file to see if the change in config helped but no luck.

Just a quick update for others:  Alejandro was able to get his JEOL 8530 EDS interfaced to Probe for EPMA once he got his JEOL software completely updated.

As mentioned by Ben Buse in the post above, both had to update the LibEDSIS.dll in the Probe for EPMA app folder and also the wrapper DLL (LibJED2003WrapServer.dll) on the JEOL computer.

Apparently the JEOL service engineers in the UK did not know this.  Anyway, here are the JEOL 8230/8530 software versions required for the EDS API interface to Probe for EPMA: