Dead time corrected and charge normalised maps generated with the MicroDas fast data acquisition system

A new data acquisition system, called MicroDas, is capable of collecting data at rates of up to 100 k counts per second per station. To correct for the large dead times that are implicitly inherent with such high data rates, dead time information is also collected for each station. Since the count rate varies with different scan regions of a sample, dead time information is collected for each pixel of each station. To generate quantitative charge normalised maps of spectral features, charge information is also collected using an ultra sensitive charge-to-frequency converter. To evaluate this new system, examples are provided that demonstrate the improvement to maps when dead time and charge information are used to correct the original raw energy data. We conclude that the most quantitative accurate maps are generated when charge triggering with beam blanking is used, (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.