2010 R&D 100 Winner
For most scanning electron, transmission electron, or scanning transmission electron microscopes (SEM/TEM/STEM), 98% of the available signal may be neglected. For researchers examining minute quantities of a material, or beam-sensitive materials, the lack of signal is limiting. The π Steradian Transmission X-ray Detection System for Nanoscale Analysis in Electron Microscopes and Electron Optical Beam Lines from Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Ill., is designed to maximize the detection of available signal during micro and nanoscale analysis of small particles and films.
The transmission x-ray detection system fits on a conventional SEM and can boost nanomaterials signal collection by up to 500 times better than a SEM without the detector and up to 30 times better than a TEM or STEM.
A radical redesign of the detector geometry—which involved locating the detector underneath and closer to the sample—results in a detector system that is significantly less constrained by interference with the electron optical components of the instrument. Scattered electron flux entering the x-ray detector is also minimized.
Technology
Transmission x-ray detection system
Developers
Argonne National Laboratory
Development Team
The π Steradian Transmission X-ray Detection System for Nanoscale Analysis in Electron Microscopes and Electron Optical Beam Lines Development Team
Nestor J. Zaluzec, Argonne National Laboratory
