Chondrite BSE
  • Utilised to acquire an image over a large area while achieving a high resolution.
  • Achieved by setting up an automated run whereby the microscope will acquire images within a given area and subsequently stitch the images together to create one image.
  • For both of the JEOL microscopes, large area mapping can be acquired through the Aztec software and either a circle or a quadrilateral shape can be acquired.
  • For the Crossbeam microscope, either the Aztec or Atlas software can be used. In Atlas a circle or any polygon can be created to acquire a large area map.
  • This technique can also be used with both EBSD and EDS, which is especially useful when wanting to analyse large areas with high resolution.
Large area map of a bee
From Another Place will show a series of
framed prints of meteorites that have crashed into the Earth’s surface from
Mars, the Moon, asteroids and elsewhere in our Solar System

Cursory Analysis of your Sample

For geological samples, large area mapping is particularly useful as a cursory search to identify areas of interest for more detailed analysis. Identifying these areas of interest results in a more efficient workflow, targeting these areas and allowing the user to know where in the sample they need to go to collect the data they require. 
This sort of analysis can also be automated to run overnight and so is a very efficient way to collect large datasets with minimal hands on time.