Universal Mode The Universal Toolbar The Universal Toolbar is the unified (and preferred) method of operating Revolution. From within the Universal Toobar, all functionality of the other 3 modes of Revolution can be reached (with the exception of the TEM/CCD Toolbar). If the toolbar is not visible at the top of your screen, selecting Mode Universal from the top menu will make it appear: The primary functionality of the toolbar (Survey, E-Image, X-Image, and Probe) can be initiated by any of the green buttons. The Stop will highlight in red when any acquisition is in progress, and hitting it will immediately stop the acquisition; however, each green button is preemptive - hitting any will initiate acquisition in that mode without having to hit the Stop button. The other controls/buttons in the toolbar will be addressed in turn below. First Run - Initial Configuration via the Setup Button The setup button opens a multi-tabbed window that contains most settings. All settings in the tabs are saved as xml files and can be modified with a text editor: Survey Settings Survey is intended as a low-resolution scanning mode used to preview images in real-time as setup is being performed. The following settings are described below in detail: Image Channel Options Waveform Options
Survey Survey Size. Select or edit the survey resolution, independently of the mapping or capture resolutions. Survey Frame Average. Set the number of frames to average. This should be increased with more rapid scanning, to acheive good signal-to-noise. For survey mode, values of 2-3 are appropriate, in combination with short dwell times of 1-2 microsconds. For slower scanning (large dwell times), it should be set to 1 or turned off. Survey Line Sync. Set whether the scan should be synced to the power line frequency or not. Survey Image Channel Options Channel 1. The controls for Channel 1 are always displayed. The scaling menu determines whether the image will be displayed with its full 8- or 16-bit range, or scaled linearly to its max and min values. The enable checkbox determines whether that window/image will appear on screen when acquisition is performed. The dwell menu determines both bit depth and the type of pixel averaging: dwell refers to the number of microseconds the beam will remain in place at a pixel, while the signal is being intregrated; average refers to the number of samples that will be averaged while the beam is in any particular location; single sample indicates that exactly one 100ns sample will be acquired at that pixel location. Channels 2-8. All of the same controls can be independently set for each channel; however, each channel must be first selected from the menu. No channel will appear on screen during acquisition unless it is explicitly enabled. Notes:. These are logical channels. They must first each be properly mapped to a physical channel in the Scan Generate Preferences. A dwell time of 1 microsecond is equivalent to an average of 10. When frame averaging, it is better to set to single sample and increase the number of frames to get better signal-to-noise. Survey Waveform Options Survey Show Waveform. Sets default behavior when an image window appears on screen. Can be toggled on or off by right-clicking in image window. Survey Show Every Line. Sets default behavior of waveform monitor, to show waveform of every scan line, or only one pre-defined scan line. Survey Set Color. Uses native color picking services of resident Operating System to set color of waveform monitor. Survey View Percent. Sets size of the waveform overlay on the image. 100% = full size. Capture (E-Image) Settings Capture is intended as a high-resolution scanning mode used to capture publicationquality images. The following settings are described below in detail: Image Channel Options Waveform Options Default Save Format
E-Image E-Image Size. Select or edit the capture resolution, independently of the mapping or survey resolutions. E-Image Frame Average. Set the number of frames to average. This should be increased with more rapid scanning, to acheive good signal-to-noise. For capture mode, values of 5-10 are appropriate, in combination with dwell times of 5-10 microsconds. For slower scanning (large dwell times), it should be set to 1 or turned off. E-Image Line Sync. Set whether the scan should be synced to the power line frequency or not. E-Image Spatial Frame Lock. Also known as real-time drift correction. E-Image Image Channel Options Channel 1. The controls for Channel 1 are always displayed. The scaling menu determines whether the image will be displayed with its full 8- or 16-bit range, or scaled linearly to its max and min values. The enable checkbox determines whether that window/image will appear on screen when acquisition is performed. The dwell menu determines both bit depth and the type of pixel averaging: dwell refers to the number of microseconds the beam will remain in place at a pixel, while the signal is being intregrated; average refers to the number of samples that will be averaged while the beam is in any particular location; single sample indicates that exactly one 100ns sample will be acquired at that pixel location. Channels 2-8. All of the same controls can be independently set for each channel; however, each channel must be first selected from the menu. No channel will appear on screen during acquisition unless it is explicitly enabled. Notes:. These are logical channels. They must first each be properly mapped to a physical channel in the Scan Generate Preferences. A dwell time of 1 microsecond is equivalent to an average of 10. When frame averaging, it is better to set to single sample and increase the number of frames to get better signal-to-noise. E-Image Waveform Options E-Image Show Waveform. Sets default behavior when an image window appears on screen. Can be toggled on or off by rightclicking in image window. E-Image Show Every Line. Sets default behavior of waveform monitor, to show waveform of every scan line, or only one pre-defined scan line. E-Image Set Color. Uses native color picking services of resident Operating System to set color of waveform monitor. E-Image View Percent. Sets size of the waveform overlay on the image. 100% = full size. E-Image Default Save Format E-Image Format. Sets default file save dialog format when image is closed. E-Image Save As Displayed. Image will be saved to disk as modified by the histogram tool or the autoscaling menu setting, rather than with the full native 8- or 16-bit dynamic range. Mapping (X-Image) Settings EDX Image Acquisition is a customresolution active (scanning) mode that acquires the full spectrum at every pixel. The following settings are described below in detail: Image Channel Options Pulse Processor Settings Image Processing
X-Image X-Image Size. Select or edit the map resolution, independently of the survey or capture resolutions. X-Image Mapping type. Set the mapping type to fast, slow, or slow/live: Fast. Every pixel is visited for a dwell that set in the Dwell field, in microseconds. This makes mapping "fast" but very few counts (often zero) are collected at every pixel. Frame averaging is required to build up the maps, so the number of frames should be selected accordingly. The acquisition can be stopped at any time, so it is acceptable to just set the frames to a large number (about 500) and visually decide when the acquisition should end. Slow. Every pixel is visited once, for the time specified in the Dwell field, in real time milliseconds. Slow mapping implies that only one frame is collected, so it doesn't make sense to turn frames on. This mode is no longer the preferred method of mapping... it takes a long time to determine if the maps contain the needed information, and long dwells can exacerbate beamrelated issues such as charging effects (drift) and/or damage to the sample. Slow Map (Live). Same as Slow Map (above), but the dwell is based on live time seconds instead of real time seconds. X-Image Frames. Set the number of frames to integrate. See above discussion for advice on this setting; when fast mapping, this should typically be turned on to a high number (200-500); when slow mapping, frames should typically be turned off. X-Image Line Sync. Set whether the scan should be synced to the power line frequency or not. X-Image Spatial Frame Lock. Also known as real-time drift correction. X-Image Image Channel Options. Enable as many video channels as desired for simultaneous SEM image acquisition, and set each of their dwell times and display characteristics, in the same way as described above for the Survey or Capture mode. X-Image EDX Image Processing Manual ROIs. The Edit Setup button will open setup options that in v1.6.0 can be deferred until during or after data are acquired. These configuration options are covered elsewhere. Principle Component. Configures Principle Component Analysis of hyperspectral images. X-Image EDX Pulse Processor. These settings are available only on Universal Spectral Engine systems. Using the menu, select the desired time constant. In general, shorter time constants are used for mapping; although resolution is poorer, this is usually offset by the faster mapping speeds that can be achieved. The Link checkbox causes the probe and linescan functionality to use the same time constant as for mapping. Probe Settings Probe Acquisition is a passive (nonscanning) mode that acquires a sum spectrum over the entire field of view. The following settings are described below in detail: EDX Acquisition Pulse Processor Settings Default Export Format
Probe EDX Acquisition Probe Preset. Sets the total acqusition dwell time, in seconds. Probe Type. Set the mapping type to LiveTime or RealTime; the latter is straight clock time, whereas the former takes the accrued deadtime into account. This setting should almost always be left at the "LiveTime" default. Probe Channels. Number of channels to acquire. Unless specified by 4pi support, this should not be changed from 4096. Probe Display. Default number of channels to display in spectrum window, going forward. Powers of 2 or 10 are available. Probe LLD. Lower Level Discriminator, set in units of channels. All channels below the one specified will be zeroed by the software. This is cosmetic only - setting the LLD value does nothing to change the hardware disciminators in the digital pulse processor, for example. Note: during equipment installation and setup, when adjusting the hardware disciminators in the digital pulse processor, the LLD should be set to 0 or 1 so that low-energy channels (specifically those that include the noise peak) are not obscured. Probe EDX Pulse Processor. These settings are available only on Universal Spectral Engine systems. Using the menu, select the desired time constant. In general, longer time constants are used for probe because they yield the best resolution. The Link checkbox causes the mapping and linescan functionality to use the same time constant as for probe. Probe Default Export Format. Sets the default format to be shown in the Export Spectrum dialog box. This setting can be changed at the time of export. LineScan Settings LineScan Acquisition is a active (scanning) mode that tracks the beam across a userdefined line in a previously captured field of view. The following settings are described below in detail: EDX Channel Options Pulse Processor Settings Default Export Format
Linescan Linescan Point Density. Linescan Spatial Frame Lock. Also known as real-time drift correction. Linescan EDX Channel Options Linescan Preset. Sets the total acqusition dwell time per pixel, in milliseconds. Linescan Type. Set the mapping type to LiveTime or RealTime; the latter is straight clock time, whereas the former takes the accrued deadtime into account. This setting should almost always be left at the "LiveTime" default. Linescan Channels. Number of channels to acquire. Unless specified by 4pi support, this should not be changed from 4096. Linescan Display. Default number of channels to display in spectrum window, going forward. Powers of 2 or 10 are available. Linescan LLD. Lower Level Discriminator, set in units of channels. All channels below the one specified will be zeroed by the software. This is cosmetic only - setting the LLD value does nothing to change the hardware disciminators in the digital pulse processor, for example. Note: during equipment installation and setup, when adjusting the hardware disciminators in the digital pulse processor, the LLD should be set to 0 or 1 so that low-energy channels (specifically those that include the noise peak) are not obscured. Linescan EDX Pulse Processor. These settings are available only on Universal Spectral Engine systems. Using the menu, select the desired time constant. In general, longer time constants are used for line scans because they yield the best resolution. The Link checkbox causes the probe and mapping functionality to use the same time constant as for line scan. Linescan Default Export Format. Sets the default format to be shown in the Export LineScan dialog box. This setting can be changed at the time of export. First Run - Initial Configuration via the Preferences A small group of settings are still accessed from the older style preferences panel ( General and Scan Generate). These settings are stored in binary fashion and can be edited only from within the Revolution GUI interface: To activate the Preferences window, select: Edit Preferences (Windows) Revolution Preferences (Mac OSX) Details can be found at the bottom of Basic Operating Principles. Acquisition and Display - General Procedures All acquisition functionality in Revolution is initiated via any of the green buttons in the Collection subpanel of the Universal Toolbar (see picture at top of this page). To switch acquisitions (e.g, to go from probe acquisition to mapping acquisition), one may either stop (red button) the acquisition first, or just go to another green button. The latter will automatically abort the current process and switch to the next one. The Options subpanel is specific to certain acquisitions and will be discussed below as needed. The Status subpanel provides feedback on the current acquisition state of Revolution; it is mostly self-explanatory and will be discussed as needed for each mode, below. The Tools subpanel consists of 12 buttons that are summarized here:
The following table is a guide to usage of all the modes. For most, the entire acquisition is done using one green button. The modifier buttons are only used in conjunction with an already-acquired reference image (E-Image), to further acquire multiple probes, linescans, or selected areas. Acquisition Type Main Button Modifier Button(s) Instructions [ QuickTime 7 required to view] Simple Survey and Capture no modifier Demonstration Movie Simple Probe no modifier Demonstration Movie Multi-Point Probe Demonstration Movie Linescan Demonstration Movie Selected Area Demonstration Movie Hyperspectral Image (Mapping) no modifier Demonstration Movie