BSE TDI measurements

[Mike Matthews]

Bit of an unconventional question, but is it possible in PfE to measure the BSE signal as part of a TDI analysis? I'm looking at the amount of ablation I get of a C coating on a heavy substrate during low kV analyses using TDI and am seeing a steady decrease in absorbed current during each analysis - this can be as large as a ~10% drop so it's not insubstantial. The faraday current is stable. I think this decrease may be due to an increasing BSE coefficient as the C is thinned (BSE imaging after analysis shows bright spots surrounded by darker contamination rings).

Mike

[John Donovan]

Bit of an unconventional question, but is it possible in PfE to measure the BSE signal as part of a TDI analysis? I'm looking at the amount of ablation I get of a C coating on a heavy substrate during low kV analyses using TDI and am seeing a steady decrease in absorbed current during each analysis - this can be as large as a ~10% drop so it's not insubstantial. The faraday current is stable. I think this decrease may be due to an increasing BSE coefficient as the C is thinned (BSE imaging after analysis shows bright spots surrounded by darker contamination rings).

Mike

Hi Mike,
Right now PFE only acquires the absorbed current as an option during the TDI acquisition:

http://smf.probesoftware.com/index.php?topic=40.msg4006#msg4006

Also the BSE signal is only acquired in PFE as an image.  Your request sounds pretty specific, so your best bet might be to utilize the Remote interface and write a macro in Excel as described here:

http://smf.probesoftware.com/index.php?board=9.0

This way you get complete control over your acquisition and data processing.

[Mike Matthews]

Thanks John, I knew it was a long shot but it was worth asking.

[John Donovan]

Thanks John, I knew it was a long shot but it was worth asking.

It wouldn't hard using the Remote interface.  Just call the get intensity function along with the get image function using a small (say 32 x 32 pixel) image acquisition.  You should be able to get pretty short TDI intervals this way.