Hi Sara, you could say more about. for example,type of material, type of analysis that you pretend perform, etc,etc, But with maps do you mean X-ray maps?

Dear followers

I have a X-ray map. each element in my sample is determined with a specific color. Except element distribution What other information can be obtained from the map? is there any software for more analysis?

Sara, EDS provides chemical information, you can obtain qualitative and, with special analysis, Quantitative information of the chemistry of the surface(depending of the interaction volume) observed. But,I recommend you first review which properties or characteristics needs to know of your material, and after that, you can select the best technique.

I suppose you are referring to X-ray map which shows the distribution of different elements present and obtained through scanning a certain area of the sample using SEM. On the other hand, the energy spectrum obtained by using SEM provides information about the elements present in the scanned area but not their distribution.

EDS mapping provides interesting data using cross-sections of the multilayered samples

Dear Sara

It seems that you used SEM-EDX, but it is not clear your material, substrate and also your sample's specification. SEM image, corresponding Diagram and material distribution maps take a wide view of interaction between the elements and the treated substrate, and also distribution of the elements. The test gives very valuable data toward clearing the behaviors of materials. I exactly agree with Philip Howie. Please read his answer again.

Hi Sara

may be you want to ask EDS mapping or elemental mapping????

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2013/ja/c3ja50026h

Often the EDS element maps are displayed as count maps, i.e. only the counts for specific energies mainly related to certain elements are displayed. This has a high potential for misinterpretations since a correct evaluation needs a real quantification of the spectra. Unfortunately, there are numerous peak overlappings like for Pb and S which makes a good quantification challenging. On the other hand you have to consider the different depth of the signal. It is a surface sensitive technique but you can see below the surface...and this element sensitive because of the radiation energy. Thus, you get results from particles you cannot see in SEM images.

It is a good option to combine the EDS maps with BSE (backscattered electron) images. From the composition one can estimate the backscatter coefficient which is displayed in the BSE images. If there is a clear discrepancy something is wrong with your EDS quantification. A typical example is the already mentioned overlapping of peaks (Pb, S, or Ti, N) which is easy to check by the BSE signal (experimental and calculated). Please also consider the spatial resolution at different electron energies, especially the matrix effect in case of small precipitates.

Thanks for the question and Thanks for all valuable comments. I wish all of you a Happy New Year 2014.

Thanks for all collegues with all my best wishes for happy holidays and happy new year

Sara, the element distribution map you describe, presumably obtained by Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX/S) in an SEM, is a fast method to obtain a qualitative assesment of the elemental composition and homogeneity of your sample at the scale of the scanning area selected for your image. There are many parameters that need to be taken into account before the map can be reputed to be a faithful representation of the actual distribution of the elements present in the sample. to give you a partial and brief summary, please consider the following:

- the spatial resolution you are aiming for (it depends on instrumental settings),

- the possible element interferences in the EDS spectrum (check with the appropriate tables);

- The instrumental settings (kV, beam size, etc.) used to appropriately excite the various lines of the elements present in the sample;

- the surface finish of your sample (flat polished or with coarse topography?)

- The time of exposure with which the map is collected

- etc, etc.

All of these cannot be simply handled by a computer programme which may be used to extract further information from you map. As it is with any computer-aided analytical technique, the same principle always applies: "garbage in -> garbage out".

So beware of any simple method of obtaining fast results!

Best wishes!

Dear colleague, please have in mind that SEM-EDX analysis (as well as mapping) is the surface analysis (electron beam penetrates into outer layer of your samples), of usually heterogeneous samples. If you need an info about real chemical composition of your sample, you should homogenize it and analyze it by some other methods..

from a SEM map you could have informations about the microstucture of your sample. best wishes for the new year 2014

From Scanning electron Microscopy you can determine what type of crystal system is it and you can get the dimension based on calculation of magnification factor in Scanning Elecrtron Microscopy

Hi Romano, I totally agree with your conclusion that a computer program is not able to deliver reliable results in case of "garbage in"... however we only have to prevent that somebody is putting garbage in. At the moments this sounds not very likely but I believe that this is only a question of time. How do YOU find out that something is wrong in your EDS analysis? This you have to transfer "siply" in a code...and the manufacturers did a lot of progress in this field during the last 10-15 years. In former times we had to use experimental profiles, now all systems use preferably using simulated profiles (as phase quantification in XRD). In so far I am quite optimistic that many fundamental errors can be prevented by automatic procedures implemented in the software in future. E.g. instrumental settings can be adapted automatically using BSE images. These images already show you which resolution you can expect for which phase, which overlapping results from the local (averaged) periodic number. The spectra in combination with BSE allow to differentiate automatically between critical elements which overlap since their backscatter coefficient is very different. Missing light elements will be detected by BSE but not by EDS, so that in case of discrepancies additional checks can be done "automatically", or at least recommended by the software.

I know that this is not always a perfect solution, but finally it will improve the reliability of standard analyses...Nothing is perfect, but if you see how perfect a digital camera is setting up focus, aperture or time...and how sceptic all people 10 years ago were... There is simply no driving force for the analytical companies to improve their software if the majority of customers is satisfied :-). They don't want build an excellent analytical system, they preferably want make money...

I would like to add the characterization of insulators by SEM by studying their electron trapping properties.

Electron-trapping and energy localization in insulating materials. Technological impact of space charge electron-beam characterization

AIP Advances 8, 095228 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5047673

A mapping by SEM gives us the distribution in different colors of chemical elements that constitute the analyzed sample and percentage by weight of these using EDS.