Combined conditions analysis

[Ben Buse]

Hi John,

Thanks - I will have a play with it when I get a chance - see what it can do. What I've done in the past when I require high spatial accuracy is run the two conditions separately and then combine them in the Analyze! window. - which also works well, but for most things combined conditions is very handy!

Hi Ben,
If the beam size control on the JEOL is anything like the Cameca, it's just an offset from the last time the beam was manually focused, so not sure if that will help.

Yes that's right which means you can "focus" it in one direction only - which makes it limiting!

Thanks

Ben

[John Donovan]

Thanks - I will have a play with it when I get a chance - see what it can do. What I've done in the past when I require high spatial accuracy is run the two conditions separately and then combine them in the Analyze! window. - which also works well, but for most things combined conditions is very handy!

Hi Ben,
I understand.  As I said I will try to add the set regulated beam current functions to the 8230/8530 save/load probe column condition code (now that I have it), but if you're interested in working with us to figure out how to get/set the objective lens for beam focus, let me know.
john

[John Donovan]

Regarding PCC files how would I go about creating them - can I get them from the Jeol software, or are there examples of what they should look like - I guessing there text files essentially.

Hi Ben,
Just FYI, now that we have the firmware call to set the beam current on the 8230/8530, I will add that call to the PCC load condition code.

Right now the code saves/loads the condenser lens values, but I don't think that will turn on the beam current regulation. Adding the firmware call for set beam current should fix that.
john

Hi Ben,
I added code for setting the regulated beam current to the 8x30 set column conditions from a PCC file. Ready to download now.
john

[Ben Buse]

Hi John,

Thats good I hope to try PCC the end of the week. Do you there's any chance of getting objective lens control for focus - it be good if we could that working

Ben

[John Donovan]

Thats good I hope to try PCC the end of the week. Do you there's any chance of getting objective lens control for focus - it be good if we could that working

Hi Ben,
I will ping JEOL and see if they can provide that for us in the EIKS API.
john

[Ben Buse]

Hi an update on using PCC combined conditions for Jeol 8530F. Thanks to John's hard work this now works really well.

Here's a brief outline on what I do and the nature of the problem

I run major elements at say 20nA and trace elements at 200nA. When switching from 20nA to 200nA the beam goes out of focus and becomes stigmatic. It also shifts position. Now using PCC this can be corrected for - allowing high spatial resolution dual conditions. It corrects for beam shift using image shift - and needs the beam to be in scanning mode - but this can be at 300,000 mag.

Part one - setup PCC files
(1) Set up column for major elements - 20kV, 20nA,x300000mag, good focus and stigma.
(2) Using Window menu in main window - select "Save PCC"
(2) Find a feature and put it in the middle of the field of view
(3) Set up column for minor elements - 20kV, 200nA, good focus and stigma.
(4) Check the shift from the feature. - how much shift in x and y
(5) In Analytical conditions (read conditions if necessary) and choice beam scan mode - enter required x and y shift.
(6) Press ok to apply to column - check if the amount of shift is correct to return the feature to the middle of the field of view. If not repeat step (5)
(7) Set mag to 300,000 and Using Window menu in main window - select "Save PCC"
( Load each PCC file - Window menu "Load PCC.." check focus, image shift is correct - otherwise correct and resave PCC files.

Part Two - set up combined conditions
In Combined Conditions window (from Analzye window). For each element select the required PCC file. Then your ready to go!

In combined conditions you can have some elements using PCC file and some elements using anaytical conditions - giving flexiblity.

The PCC files are good in that they load very quickly onto the column - no need to iterate beam current - giving rapid beam condition changes

Ben

[John Donovan]

Hi an update on using PCC combined conditions for Jeol 8530F. Thanks to John's hard work this now works really well.

Thank-you Ben for helping to test the new PCC files for the 8530. I also want to thanks Glenn Poirer who helped with the 8230 testing.

I have to say, I don't take advantage of this feature (PCC probe column condition files in a combined condition) as much as I should, but it works just as well on Cameca instruments. Quite essential for combined condition analyses of tiny inclusions.
john

[dawncruth]

Hi all,
Ben and John, I was just looking at your work around for the focus and shift issue with combined conditions. I tried it with our JEOL 8530F and couldn't get it to work.  Specifically, I couldn't get my PCCs to save.

First, when you say the main window, I assume you are talking about the opening window for PfEPMA.  Is this correct?  When I go Window -- Analytical Conditions --  it won't let me save here.  I can 'save' in the combined conditions setup. But when I go to load, the saved conditions are not in the directory.

Ben, could you post more specific instructions on how to do this?

In the mean time, I'm gonna run the analyses majors then minors. 

Thanks for the help!

Dawn

[Probeman]

Ben and John, I was just looking at your work around for the focus and shift issue with combined conditions. I tried it with our JEOL 8530F and couldn't get it to work.  Specifically, I couldn't get my PCCs to save.

Hi Dawn,
The only issue I can think of is that you should update PFE to the latest version using the Help menu.  Then you should be able to do exactly as Ben described.

Also, after updating PFE, check your Probewin.ini file and find the keyword "ColumnConditionPresent" and make sure it says:

ColumnConditionPresent=1

john

[Ben Buse]

Hi Dawn,

Sorry I've only just seen your post - did you sort it. For saving PCC - it should be as shown on screenshot below

Ben