Parallel recording for an electron spectrometer on a Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope

A parallel recording system is being built for the electron-energy-loss spectrometer of a VG Microscopes HB501 scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). A two-dimensional charge-coupled device (CCD) lens-coupled to an ytrrium aluminium garnet (YAG) scintillator is the electron detector. The operating mode for the CCD is described and the expected performance compared with that of a detector using a self-scanned photodiode array. Provision is being made for the bright-field and energy-loss images to be produced.