STEM SI Workflow

In STEM, the electron beam is focused into a small probe and rastered to acquire spatial information in a serial manner (X, Y). In this acquisition mode, spectrum imaging (SI) is performed when you acquire a parallel spectrum at each pixel position, hence build up the spectrum image on a spectrum-by-spectrum basis (STEM SI). A typical workflow includes:

  1. Set up the microscope in scanning mode and in the appropriate state for the spectrometer you wish to use.

  2. Use the DigiScan™ system to acquire and assign a Survey Image.

  3. Create a spectrum image survey region of interest on the Survey Image.

  4. View the spectra from the region you wish to acquire the spectrum image from.

  5. In the SI Setup dialog, specify which spectrum signals you want to acquire.

  6. If artifact corrections are required, enable them and/or create the artifact correction survey regions of interest.

  7. In the Spectrum Image dialog, specify the pixel dwell time you want to use and size of the spectrum image in pixels.

  8. Select Start on the Spectrum Imaging dialog.

Here are detailed STEM spectrum imaging workflows you can follow to better understand your sample when you use Gatan Microscopy Suite® software.