Integrated windows-based control system for an electron microscope

Abstract

A Windows application has been developed for management and operation of beam instruments such as electron or ion microscopes. It provides a facility that allows an operator to manage a complicated instrument with minimal effort, primarily under mouse control. The hardware control components used on similar instruments (e.g., the scanning transmission electron microscopes in our lab), such as toggles, buttons, and potentiometers for adjustments on various scales, are all replaced by the controls of the Windows application and are addressable on a single screen. The new controls in this program (via adjustable software settings) offer speed of response and smooth operation providing tailored control of various instrument parameters. Along with the controls offering single parameter adjustment, a two-dimensional control was developed that allows two parameters to be coupled and addressed simultaneously. This capability provides convenience for such tasks as ‘‘finding the beam’’ and directing it to a location of interest on the specimen. Using an icon-based display, this Windows application provides better integrated and more robust information for monitoring instrument status than the indicators and meters of the traditional instrument controls. As a Windows application, this program is naturally able to share the resources of the Windows system and is thus able to link to many other applications such as our image acquisition and processing programs. Computer control provides automatic protection and instant diagnostics for the experimental instrument. This Windows application is fully functional and is in daily use to control a new type of electron microscope developed in our lab.