Specifications for Low Vacuum Scanning Electron Microscope with X-ray Microanalysis System rev 4.docx

Specifications for and Evaluation Conditions of Low Vacuum Scanning Electron Microscope and X-ray Microanalysis System

A general description of the items that shall comprise the low vacuum scanning electron microscope and X-ray microanalysis system is shown below. A definition of evaluation criteria and the Specifications for a Low Vacuum Scanning Electron Microscope (LVSEM) and X-ray Microanalysis system follow the general description.

General Description of System and System Requirements:

1) Low vacuum Scanning Electron Microscope w/ Schottky-Type Thermal Field Emission Gun

2) Low Vacuum Secondary Electron Detector/High Vacuum Secondary Electron Detector

3) Backscatter Electron Detector: High sensitivity BE detector with good performance at low accelerating voltages

3) Dual Cameras: Top-Down stage navigation camera and Off-Axis IR Chamber-Scope

4) X-ray Microanalysis System w/EDS Detector; X-ray Microanalysis shall be integrated to or interfaced to Scanning Electron Microscope.

5) User friendly GUI

6) No auxiliary cooling connections: No chilled water requirements.

7) Purchase price of instrument shall include installation of instrument. Installation shallinclude proof of performance in customer’s laboratory

8) NRTL Certification or NRTL safety inspection and modifications: Safety inspection of instrument by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) and modifications to instrument by manufacturer’s service engineers to insure conformance to local safety requirements.

9) Manufacturer shall be able to provide maintenance of system, offer preventive maintenance contracts, have in-house qualified service engineers, have in-house qualified applications specialists, maintain a complete line of spare parts and/or loaner parts in-house, and provide system software updates/upgrades.

10) Manufacturer shall provide, as part of purchase, user training course at manufacturer’s site for one individual with course including tuition & supplies. Course shall be offered within 1 year of installation completion.

11) A complete set of operator manuals including circuit diagram manual to facilitate maintenance and diagnosis by service engineer shall be provided.

12) Extension boards to facilitate trouble shooting and repair of electronic equipment.

13) LVSEM Power requirements: 208V, 30 amp, 60 Hz; X-Ray Microanalysis System Power Requirements: 120V, 20 amp, 3 wire, 60 Hz.

14) No In-lens Detectors shall be suitable for magnetic particles

Definition of Resolution for Technical Review:

As it is recognized that there is no ASTM or international standards for determining spatial resolution in Electron Microscopy; presently system resolution is generally determined by and evaluated using the traditional reference standard of gold (Au) particles evaporated on a carbon substrate. The measurement of spatial resolution is generally determined by referencing a standard of small gold (Au) particles evaporated on a carbon substrate and evaluating the changes in line intensity a utilizing different mathematical approaches such as contrast-to-gradient method, correlation method, line intensity profiles method, and Fourier transform method.

Reporting of spatial resolution shall include be how the measurement was taken, the acquisition parameters utilized in the measurement, evaluation method, energy threshold (15%-85%, 25%-75%, and 35%-65%, etc.) and the variance of the measurement.

Specifications for Low Vacuum Scanning Electron Microscope (LVSEM):

General Operation:

1) Scanning Electron Microscope; operation in low vacuum (LV) and high vacuum (HV) modes of operation

6) Resolution: ≤ 2 nm in HV, 30 kV, SEI; ≤ 4 nm in HV, 1 kV, SEI; ≤ 2 nm in LV, 15 kV.

7) Vacuum: ≥ 10-4 Pa in HV mode and ≤ 1.50 x102 Pa in LV mode; Reference 133.322 Pa = 1 Torr;

8) Directional changing of vacuum modes through software; No chamber venting, manual changing of detectors, manual changing of differential apertures.

9) Vacuum Type: Turbo-molecular Pumping station with oil free/dry roughing pump(s)

10) Vacuum Operation: Fully Automatic with manual override Electron Optics:

1) Filament Type: Schottky-Type Thermal Field Emission Gun; 3year minimum warranty on emitter

2) Electromagnetic Beam Blanking

3) In-Column Probe Current detector (PCD)/ In-column Faraday cup (PCD); pneumatic faraday cup insertion/retraction into beam path.

4) ≥ 4 stage adjustable objective lens aperture strip

5) Automatic Gun Isolation valve

Imaging Detectors:

1) Secondary Electron Detector: Everhart Thornley Detector or Solid-State Type Detector; user bias control of collection ring.

2) Backscatter Electron Detector: Co-linear Multi-Segmented Solid-State Backscatter Detector for composition, topographic and variable shadow imaging.

b) BSED should be a high sensitivity semiconductor type BSE detector that can operate in a rapid scan mode.

c) Detector shall be capable of multi-mode operation without mechanical repositioning of detector geometry.

d) Detector shall be capable of ≤ 0.1 atomic number (Z) discrimination

e) Modes of operation shall include mixing of low/high angle Backscatter electrons

3) Low Vacuum Secondary Electron Detector; reference item 8 in General Operation Section Stage:

1) 5-axis asynchronous, motorized, mechanically eucentric stage

2) Range: X = ≥ 125 mm, Y= ≥ 100 mm, Z= 5 to ≥ 80 mm continuous, Rotation: 360 o, Tilt -10 to 90o

3) Stage Navigation System; stage memory, stage history, click to center

4) Sample Holder Kits /Sample Holders for instrument

5) Stage shall be capable of handling high mass samples (≥ 6.5 kilograms) with full motorized travel in Z direction Chamber:

1) Large Area Sample Chamber, ≥ 10 ports Chamber ports to accommodate: EDS, BSED, EBSD, SED, WDS, CL, and OEM 1, OEM 2, OEM 3

2) Option for sample introduction chamber

Imaging System:

1) Interface for external scan control and data exchange

2) Operation panel/control panel for most common instrument functions

3) Charge reduction scan modes

4) Multiple imaging modes, live image capture, image measurement capability, image annotation capability, basic image processing, pseudo color capability

5) Multiple Scan speeds

6) Seamless transition from optical to SEM imaging

7) Automated Montage Collection capability; Images and X-ray maps

8) Multiple Files formats for image capture/storage (JPEG, TIFF, BMP, etc.)

9) Display system should provide a full-frame, flicker free, high pixel density, real-time image.

10) Display system should allow simultaneous display of images from two different detectors, each having different sample information, in real-time, including signal mixing.

Computer System:

1) PC based system, 64 bit OS architecture, Intel processor

2) 1 TB SSD/HDD Storage, 32 GB memory (RAM)

3) Network Interface, Graphics Interface, HDMI Video connector, User friendly GUI

4) Expansion slots 1 PCIe x1; 1 PCIe x16; 2 M.2

5) External I/O Ports: 1 USB 3.0 Type-C™; 2 USB 3.0; 2 USB 2.0; 2 USB 3.0

6) Flat screen Monitor: ≥ 24"

7) Wireless and/or USB keyboard and optical mouse

8) OS software, LVSEM operation software, LVSEM diagnostics software, image processing software, user manuals; OS software: Linx or Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit, Microsoft Office,

9) ENERGY STAR® certified; EPEAT® Gold/Silver registered

Options:

1) Providing UPS system (double conversion on-line) suitable for operation of the LVSEM

2) Cross Sectional Polisher (CSP); CSP to have Stage Navigation Camera, Backlight Kit with holder, Large specimen Rotation Holder, Thin Section holder.

3) Mounting of existing Gatan MonoCL Cathodoluminescence detector to LVSEM

4) Sample Introduction Chamber for LVSEM

X-ray Microanalysis System Specifications

General Requirements:

1) Energy Dispersive Microanalysis system shall be integrated to or capable of interfacing to above specified Electron Microscope

2) Purchase price shall include installation and interfacing to specified Electron Microscope

3) Purchase price of instrument shall include installation of instrument. Installation shall include proof of performance in Customer’s laboratory

4) Manufacturer shall be able to provide maintenance of system, offer preventive maintenance contracts, have in-house qualified service engineers, maintain a complete line of spare parts and/or loaner parts in-house, and provide system software updates/upgrades.

5) Manufacturer shall provide, as part of purchase, user training course at manufacturer’s site for one individual with course including tuition & supplies. Course shall be offered within 1 year of installation completion.

6) A complete set of operator manual(s) including Circuit diagram manual to facilitate maintenance and diagnosis by service engineer.

7) Power Requirements: 120 volt, 20 amp, 3 conductor, 60 Hz.

General Microanalysis System Capabilities

1) Electron/Digital Imaging Capabilities

2) Digital Beam Control & Column Communication

3) Automatic communications with electron microscope for key parameters including Accelerating voltage, magnification, working distance, beam/probe current, stage conditions.

4) User friendly GUI

5) Spectral Acquisition and Analysis capabilities:

Quantitative Analysis- Full standards-based, Matrix correction programs PROZA, ZAF, Cliff-Lorimer Standardless quantitative analysis; Background fit by digital filter, peak intensities by least squares fit from stored and/or generated Gaussian peaks, Matrix correction programs PROZA, ZAF, Cliff-Lorimer

6) Standards Library - manufacturer supplied spectral library; factory supplied reference peak shapes and intensities for standardless analysis

7) Spectral Imaging Capabilities: :≥ 1024 pixels with spectral extraction or user defined shapes and line scans, electron image overlay. Background subtraction, peak deconvolution, and quantitative analysis at each pixel.

b) Quantitative analysis shall include selection of resolution/detail level and results method (raw data, k-ratios, net counts, atomic %, weight %,).

c) Maximum number of elemental maps: ≥ 20

d) X-ray map annotation.

e) Ability to acquire fast X-ray maps at high spatial resolution using low kV electrons.

8) Phase Analysis capabilities for phase mapping/spectral imaging.

9) Multi-variant statistical analysis of spectral imaging data sets to determine chemically unique phases with-in the spectral image data set.

10) Drift Compensation: automatic correction of sample movement caused by charging or stage drift.

11) Line Scan Capabilities: line scan analysis with user defined number of analysis points, or user defined line width; coordinated cursor on image and line scan, full spectrum stored at each position, overlay of data on electron image. Background subtraction, peak deconvolution, and quantitative analysis at each analysis point.

12) Spectral match capability utilizing supplied spectral library or user acquired standards.

13) Single Point and Multi-point Acquisition Capabilities: spectral acquisition with electron image overlay; point mode, rectangular, circle, polygon, free form drawing. b) Background subtraction, Peak deconvolution, and quantitative analysis at each analysis point.

14) Batch Quantitative analysis of multiple spectra; export to csv file format

15) Region tool for defining spectral ranges for analysis

16) EDS spectral acquisition termination by time or counting statistics

17) Dead time correction: automatic

18) Selective element elimination from quantitative analysis

19) Spectra stored in standard emsa file format

20) Images Stored in tiff, BMP, PNG or tiff file format; ability to covert stored images to jpeg file format

21) KLM Markers for selected elements

22) Automatic drift compensation

23) 3-D Visualization

24) Multi-Tasking Capabilities: ability to simultaneously process existing data while acquiring new data, ability to selectively interact with acquiring data.

25) Full off-line license for application software

26) WDS operation capable

27) Quantitative analysis utilizing combined WDS and EDS acquisitions

28) Feature Sizing capabilities

29) Capabilities for control of microscope stage for analysis automation

Energy Dispersive Spectrometer Specifications:

1) Resolution Specifications specified in accordance with ISO 15632-2012

2) SSD based Energy Dispersive Spectrometer

3) 60 mm2 Silicon Drift Detector (SDD)

4) ≤ 129 eV energy resolution utilizing Mn Kα (5.89 keV)

5) Thermoelectric Peltier Cooling

6) Light Element Detection

7) Elemental Range: Beryllium to Fermium utilizing all confirmed K, L, M, and N lines

8) Collection Rate: ≥ 200,000 counts per second with net count rate being approximately less than input count rate by the value of the dead time

9) ≤ ±5 eV resolution change from minimum to maximum count rate at a given analyzer time constant

10) ≤ ±5 eV peak shift from minimum to maximum count rate at a given analyzer time constant

Digital Imaging Capabilities:

1) 32-bit architecture or 64 bit architecture

2) Minimum number of inputs: 2

3) Minimum acquisition Size: 64 x 64 pixels

4) Maximum acquisition size: 4096 x 4096 pixels

Computer System Specifications:

1) PC based system, 64 bit OS architecture, Intel processor

2) 1 TB HDD/SSD Storage, 32 GB memory (RAM)

3) Network Interface, Graphics Interface, HDMI Video connector

4) Expansion slots 1 PCIe x1; 1 PCIe x16; 2 M.2

5) External I/O Ports: 1 USB 3.0 Type-C™; 2 USB 3.0; 2 USB 2.0; 2 USB 3.0

6) POWER SUPPLY – MINIMUM 750 W

7) Flat screen Monitor: ≥ 24"

8) Wireless and/or USB keyboard and optical mouse

9) OS software, X-ray Microanalysis operation software, X-ray Microanalysis operation diagnostics software, image processing software, user manuals; OS software: Linx or Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit, Microsoft Office.

10) ENERGY STAR® certified