Table showing the standardless result for two common spinels. The summed values of cations A & B are represented in bold. Numbers are shown in Atomic %.

Confident the results are good I can now think about the conditions I actually want to use. With the latest Ultim detectors and software for correcting high count rate artefacts like pulse pile-up, it is routine to go much faster and achieve accurate results at fast mapping speeds. I know this because I commonly check it. So, let's increase the throughput 7 times to 320,000cps, using Process Time 2 – a set-up I may be using for AZtecLive. With the Ultim Max 100 detector, the beam current required should still be well below 10nA. Collecting a spectrum for quant analysis now takes less than 2 seconds and the results are shown below. The analysis totals have increased slightly but the contents of the A, B and X sites have hardly changed. Is this good enough? Well, that is a question for you to answer depending on your characterisation requirements.

Table showing the standardless result for two common spinels acquired under standard acquisition settings. The summed values of cations A & B are represented in bold. Numbers are shown in Atomic %.

Knowing the AutoID and Quantitative analysis is accurate gives me great confidence in my results. If the quant is good the system is giving stable results and the spectrum processing is working well for all types of analysis, including peak deconvolution mapping, phase mapping etc.

Using this simple method, you can test any conditions. For example, how are the results when you reconstruct a spectrum from a map or change the accelerating voltage to increase spatial resolution? Try it and take control of your analysis. If you have any questions regarding this method or AZtecLive, then please post them in the comment section below where I will get back to you.

Do more with your sample using AZtecLive.