New AugerScan Feature – Automatic Marking of Multiple Element Peaks

A new feature has been added to AugerScan – the option to automatically mark all the peaks of a particular Auger element when marking the primary peak. With this feature you can mark an element’s primary peak and AugerScan will automatically mark the rest of the element’s peaks and select the primary for atomic concentration.

An Example Using Copper (Cu1)

AugerScan
AugerScan – Marking multiple peaks for copper (Cu1)

In the example above, we’ve selected the carbon (C1), oxygen (O1) and copper (Cu1) peaks. AugerScan automatically marked the additional copper peaks (Cu2, Cu3, and Cu4). When performing an atomic concentration calculation, only the Cu1 peak is selected.

You can of course easily change which peaks are selected for atomic concentration by clicking the “Markers” command from the “Edit” menu. You can also remove selected markers from peaks using this dialog.

AugerScan

AugerScan – Marker Selection Dialog

To turn this feature on/off, choose the “Options…” command from the “Data” menu, and select/deselect the checkbox labeled “When Marking and Element, Mark all of its Peaks”.

AugerScan

AugerScan – Marking all Peaks Option

(This feature was originally developed for CMapp, RBD’s software for the microCMA Compact Auger Analyzer)

AugerScan Version 3.3.1

The latest version of AugerScan is available for download. In addition to this new feature, this release includes some bug fixes and improved compatibility with high-dpi displays and Windows 10.

Running AugerScan and AugerMap on Windows 7 – 10

AugerScan and AugerMap are “legacy” software applications originally developed for Windows 95 and 98, however they have been and continue to be updated for bug fixes, additional features, and operating system compatibility. Both applications (and the systems they run) are still going strong and support Windows 7 – 10.

While many customers are still content running their RBD-upgraded PHI systems on Windows XP (or 95-98!), Microsoft no longer supports those operating systems, making upgrading the OS or replacing those PCs inevitable. There are a few areas where the transitions is not as smooth as we’d yet like, and those are driver support and the legacy help system.

Drivers

RBD provides drivers for older Windows XP systems as well as drivers that are fully compatible with Windows 7 – 10. However, none of these drivers are currently digitally signed. Depending on your operating system, providing the rights to run unsigned drivers may be necessary upon installing the drivers and/or running the software.

Some of the errors you may encounter are cryptic, such as the following sometimes seen when installing unsigned drivers on Windows 10: “The hash for the file is not present in the specified catalog file”.

Driver Error

Thanks for the clarity, Microsoft!

 

The good news is that you should only have to take care of the issue once, not every time you are running the software. The bad news is the methods are different for each operating system version, and even different for the same exact operating system depending on the date it was installed and the PC BIOS.

For most versions of Windows, disabling driver signature enforcement can be accomplished easily by one of these methods.

For Windows 10 PCs that were installed (not updated) with build 1607 (Anniversary Edition), the Secure Boot feature of the BIOS must be turned off.

Help

The original Help system (largely unchanged since Windows 3.1) was phased out in Windows Vista. The context-sensitive help – also known as “what’s this?” or “right-click” help cannot be replaced (this was the information you would typically see for each field in a dialog box, for example). However, for Windows Vista through 8.1, Microsoft does provide separate downloads for the legacy help system; it’s just no longer installed in the operating system.

You can find most of those files on this Microsoft support page (scroll down to “Resolution”) For security reasons, Microsoft no longer supports this help format at all in Windows 10, and there are no third-party solutions available.

However, we’ve translated most of RBD’s help to HTML for both AugerScan and AugerMap. In each case, simply  unzip the file to a convenient folder and run “index.html” in your browser.

10-155 Filament replacement procedure

This blog post is an updated version of the 10-155 filament replacement procedure first published on the RBD Instruments website as a Technical Tip a number of years ago. This version has been updated with some close up pictures of the electron gun assembly shown at the bottom of this post.

Use gloves, de-magnetize all tools and clean all tools with Isopropanol.

  1. Set analyzer on stand or use manuals and support analyzer on handles, facing up.
  2. Remove outer magnetic shield (4 screws)
  3. Remove inner magnetic shield (4 screws)
  4. Carefully remove conical ceramic
  5. Loosen VM (outer cylinder) wire and lift inner cylinder off of base ceramic.
  6. Remove 3 screws inside inner cylinder.
  7. Carefully lift inner cylinder up and off of the electron gun assembly. Note: If the inner cylinder does not move freely, use a heat gun to expand the inner cylinder so that it will slide off. Do not force it!
  8. Look at the 10-155 electron gun detail PDF file to familiarize yourself with the electron gun assembly.
  9. Remove the three long screws that hold the electron gun assembly together.
  10. Remove the V1 emission screw
  11. Remove the 2 filament couplers from the filament posts. You will need a .048 4 spline wrench.
  12. Remove the 3 filament ceramics.
  13. Remove the filament assembly. Note the orientation of the emission tab and filament posts.
  14. Remove the 3 screws that hold the filament base on and remove the filament.
  15. Install the new filament in the same orientation as the old filament into the emission cap.
  16. Install the 3 screws and the filament base and tighten slightly.
  17. Position the filament so that it is centered in the hole and tighten the 3 screws. This is best done using a microscope.
  18. Install the filament assembly on top of the 3 filament ceramics and use the 3 long screws to hold the assembly together. The three long screws need to be tightened so that they all have the same distance with respect to the base.
  19. Reconnect the V1 wire
  20. Reconnect the filament couplers.
  21. Ohm out the connections to the filament and V1.
  22. Degauss the gun assembly.
  23. Install the inner cylinder over the electron gun assembly.
  24. Reinsert and tighten the three screws inside the inner cylinder.
  25. Reinstall the outer cylinder and attach the VM wire.
  26. Carefully install the conical ceramic. The resistor part should be 180 degrees out from the bottom flat ceramic. Ohm out VM to ground and make sure it has the correct resistance – typically that is about 3 Meg ohms from VM (the outer cylinder) to ground. You may need to shim the inner or outer cylinder with some silver or platinum foil, see the 10-155 shim document for more information. Both the flat and conical termination ceramics need to make a good electrical connection in order for the CMA to properly focus the electrons into the analyzer aperture.
  27. Install the inner magnetic shield
  28. Degauss the analyzer.
  29. Install the outer magnetic shield.
  30. Degauss the analyzer. Installation complete!

RBD Instruments provides the C75-010 filament and electron multiplier used in the 10-155 CMA. Contact us for more information.

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