title: Influence of experimental conditions on atom column visibility in energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.
abstract: Here we report the influence of key experimental parameters on atomically resolved energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). In particular, we examine the role of the probe forming convergence semi-angle, sample thickness, lattice spacing, and dwell/collection time. We show that an optimum specimen-dependent probe forming convergence angle exists to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of the atomically resolved signal in EDX mapping. Furthermore, we highlight that it can be important to select an appropriate dwell time to efficiently process the X-ray signal. These practical considerations provide insight for experimental parameters in atomic resolution energy dispersive X-ray analysis.
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way Engineering Building 1, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA.
authors: J H
authors: JH
authors: Dycus
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way Engineering Building 1, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA.
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Xu
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way Engineering Building 1, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA.
authors: X
authors: X
authors: Sang
authors: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
authors: A J
authors: AJ
authors: D'Alfonso
authors: School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
authors: Z
authors: Z
authors: Chen
authors: Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Weyland
authors: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
authors: L J
authors: LJ
authors: Allen
authors: School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
authors: S D
authors: SD
authors: Findlay
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way Engineering Building 1, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA. Electronic address: jmlebeau@ncsu.edu.
authors: J M
authors: JM
authors: LeBeau
keywords: Atomic resolution; Electron channeling; Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy; Probe convergence angle; Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)