EDS Calibration and Repair

Regular calibration should be done every 2 to 4 weeks.

There are calibraition samples (Aluminum Foil and a chunk of Copper) located near the SEM - do not use copper tape as a calibration source. Place the samples into the SEM and start EDS as normal. (WD of about 15, IR camera OFF, etc.)

In TEAM software, on the right side, you can find a tab that says Calibration with values set to 1.486 (Al) and 8.04 (Cu). Click calibrate.

Sometimes increasing BI (Beam Intennsity) helps calibrate the longer Amp Times (higher resolution).

If the system was not calibrated for a long time or if there was a power shutdown, this simple calibration might not converge. In this case, you’d need to perform a more advanced calibration in the eDPPShell software.
Close TEAM, if it was open, and power cycle the detector with it being off for at least 10 seconds. (Detector power is located on the top of the EDAX computer, below the desk - when the button lights blue, the detector is on.)

UNOFORTUNATELY THEY SET PASSWORD EXPIRATION DATES, SO PASSWORD MIGHT NOT WORK.

Turn on eDPPShell, password is edam225.
Hover the mouse over the tool bar icons and select Restore Configuration.

A Windows file open panel will open looking for an XML file. The most recent configuration should be done on 25-07-09_3rd_after_call .XML. Look in c:\EDAX Service\, c:\EDAX Service\Backup cfg files\, or any sub folders. Do NOT select on Gold_ApolloXLT.xml

After the file is restored, a confirmation will pop up showing Restore Complete
Close the eDPP Shell. When prompted for saving, save as “Restored [today’s date as mm-dd-yy].xml” Reboot the PC. Log back in, wait two minutes and launch TEAM software to check results.

If this did not work, you might need to do a manual calibration.
Make sure the samples of the Al and Cu are in the SEM chamber and are both well visible on the screen.

You’d want to click Start to collect and Stop to look over the spectra and Clear whenever you want to retest your adjustments.
First, go to NVRAM tab and make sure the correct detector is selected (should be Element - C2B), if not, select it, click ENTER and restart the eDPPShell software. Also, make sure the Geometry is set as below:

Then go to the Calibration Tab, and try the AlCu DualPeak sample with Markers on to see if it matches well. If it works, do the calibration on all Amp Times (check all AT).

Then go to the Spectrum tab, if calibration was not successful, change the Gain to a different value (typically between 0.95 and 0.98) and make sure the Offset is at 0, and try the calibration again. If the calibration worked, check all of Disable 80ns to 640 ns (5 checks), turn off the HV (your IR camera should have been turned off all this time) and make sure that the CPS varies within 0-5, if it does not (meaning it is too high or at a permanent 0) decrease or increase the value in Disc Main. Next, uncheck Disable 640 ns and change the value in 640ns Disc to keep CPS within 0 to 5. Repeat unchecking one by one and changing for all Disc values.
Turn on the HV and make click Start to see where your spectra is. You can perform and additional calibration after that.

Hopefully, this would fix the calibration/EDS.
If not, you can also try and restore all of the default settings in the NVRAM tab and repeat the process.

If nothing above worked, contact EDAX.
Ken.Hudson@ametek.com and Matthew.Thompson@ametek.com

Tips:

Always make sure the detector is ON and COOLING whenever any software is open. The detector won’t work if the cooling is disabled.
Be sure to turn off the detector properly for power shutdowns: software first, then the box, then the computer.
The lower Apt Times usually give better EDS matches, but be careful not to go above 50% DT (If DT is 100% - the run will never finish, if it is >95% it will take a looong time and probably not great results.)