Technology Advancement Brings Complete Quantification To 3D Data

EDAX Inc. (USA), manufacturer of X-ray microanalysis and electron diffraction instrumentation, has announced a major advancement in the growing field of 3D microanalysis with the launch of TEAM 3D IQ, delivering the full analysis capabilities of TEAM EDS to 3D datasets.

“Previous 3D solutions have focused on the reconstruction of a stack of image slices through a sample to produce a 3D rendering. Maps could be displayed by colour coding according to signal intensity, and, while they could be modified with typical visualisation tools like rotation, zoom and thresholding, there was little additional interpretative information available,” notes Dr. Patrick Camus, Director of Innovation at EDAX.

“With TEAM 3D IQ, EDAX has extended the source of typical 3D EDS data sets from simple elemental maps to full spectral imaging data sets for each slice. When sub-sets of the data are extracted for interpretation, a complete spectrum also is extracted, from which full quantification can be performed.

TEAM 3D IQ fully opens up the next dimension in materials characterisation, allowing users to extract the maximum information from their 3D acquisitions. Each X-ray is not only identified but also tagged with x, y and z coordinates, building a true 3D dataset to work from.

“Once the dataset is collected, users have a large toolbox of utilities to choose from, enabling them to fully define the important region of interest. “Along with these standard 3D tools, there are advanced functions like proxigrams and line scans, which allow a deeper understanding of spatial relationships between elements,” adds Dr. Camus.

TEAM 3D IQ is seamlessly integrated with EDAX’s powerful TEAM EDS software, and data can be shared between the programs with a single click. That teamwork enables full utilisation of EDS quant tools for the 3D datasets, including Phase Maps, Quant Maps and Quant Line scans.

TEAM 3D IQ expands the depth of understanding of 3D data, moving the results from the qualitative to the full quantitative domain, giving EDAX users the ultimate tool for materials characterisation in 3D.