Abstract

Electron energy-loss spectrometry (EELS) in the transmission electron microscope has many theoretical advantages over x-ray emission spectrometry. Despite these advantages, the technique is rarely used, except by a few devotees. The reason for this is that the technique is practically difficult to use and it can be a tedious exercise to generate reproducible quantitative data. There are many experimental variables to control and the interpretation and quantification of the spectra are non-trivial exercises. Recent improvements in EELS instrumentation and software have mitigated many of these problems. This paper reviews the theoretical advantages of the technique and practical difficulties of acquisition and quantification of energy-loss spectra. Comparison is made at all times with the more widespread technique of x-ray spectrometry.