Troubleshooting
For general troubleshooting tips: see our Troubleshooting Guide
You may need to change one or multiple settings:
Voltage (0.5kV-30kV)
Pressure (low vacuum mode)
Spot Size (typically 3, or higher for EDS)
Scan Speed
If you change settings (voltage, spot size,) you will need to realign the beam (focus, aperture, stigmators.)
If the program stops responding, WAIT! Asking it to do more will take longer and may crash the program.
In low vaccum mode, the pressure affects resolution and charging.
If the sample is charging, try increasing the pressure.
If the image is blurry after alignment, try decreasing the pressure.
If the image is blurry after increasing the pressure to reduce charging, increase the voltage.
In EDS set the pressure below 0.1 torr to prevent characteristic peak shifting.