Quantified backscattered electron analysis in the SEM

Gatan instrument used

Cipher^® system, including the OnPoint™ backscattered electron detector and DigitalMicrograph^® software.

Background

In the scanning electron microscope (SEM), backscattered electron (BSE) imaging is used routinely to reveal the compositional variation within a specimen. The contrast in a BSE image results from the difference in average atomic number between analysis points. Typically, BSE imaging is performed qualitatively; however, quantitative BSE (qBSE) imaging may be performed under appropriate conditions to determine the mean atomic number (Z̅). Recently, interest in qBSE analysis has surged after researchers demonstrated the ability to reveal single-digit weight percentages of lithium in a sample quantitatively using qBSE and quantitative energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis [1, 2]. In this article, we examine the use of the OnPoint BSE detector and DigitalMicrograph software (components of the Cipher system) for qBSE applications.