Understanding the limitations of the Super-X energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer as a function of specimen tilt angle for tomographic data acquisition in the S/TEM

Abstract

We have investigated the use of x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy during tomographic hyperspectral imaging experiments in the scanning transmission electron microscope. In this work, we have found that for an analytical system employing a commercial high-tilt tomography holder the measured x-ray signal is limited by shadowing caused by the penumbra of the holder relative to the x-ray detector system. This limits the ability to perform quantitative, elemental tomographic analysis.