Segmentation Triggers

requires amics 5 1 0 or newer the released version of amics is {{version}} and can be found at docid\ se8jyhxszdqfpit7s1ja0 with instruction on the docid\ e1faehd1k20uedqhptzlx page manuals for previous versions of the software can be found at the docid\ d2biwe sybowhhdww0anz page method background segmentation triggers are a unique feature for any analysis mode making use of image segmentation, which includes segmentation mapping and bright phases search mode these triggers make use of the initial results from the segmentation analysis of a field, which provides initial material classification results these results include the bse grey level, x ray spectrum, and classification match results for each segment, which can be used by the trigger function to autonomously set up more detailed analyses of segments matching certain filtering criteria the image above provides an example of the segmentation trigger process for a single grain in this example, the first step is the acquisition of the bse image of the particle the bse image is then segmented based on the main measurement mode settings, and centroid x rays are collected for each segment based on the collected x ray and bse values, each segment is classified based on the classification method selected, and adjacent segments with the same classification are grouped into grains this forms the matched grain layer, which is then used for the trigger filtering in this example, the filter was set to find the yellow phase, and two different triggers are exemplified here in the upper example, the trigger is designed to create a matrix map grid over the filtered grain, and amics will return to these grains and collect additional x rays this trigger option would then provide a more detailed chemical deposition over the area of the selected phase, rather than rely on a single spot analysis in the bottom example, the trigger used will repeat a centroid analysis, but the dwell time for the x ray collection has been increased normal amics analysis will aim for between 2000 2500 total counts per spot, but for a more detailed understanding of phase or quantification workflows, a higher total count may be required using this trigger workflow higher total counts can be obtained only for phases of interest, and not the entire sample this reduces the total analysis time requirement while still achieving the analysis objective workflow once the segment trigger option is selected, a new pop up window is opened to adjust the settings the main segment trigger menu gives access to the four triggering options in the top four tabs, bse filter, mineral filter, energy filter, and other filter material triggers can only be set if a workflow is selected in the specimen the default tab opened will be the bse filter, and this filter allows triggers to be set based on different bse grey level windows to create a new bse trigger, click the plus button in the top left hand corner this will generate a new line in the main interface window below, with the option to set the lower and upper grey level bse threshold, ie bse low and bse high respectively in the case of mineral filter, the columns change to mineral name, and adding a new filter will pop up a window with the reference material list being used for this sample, which allows for a material to be selected as the trigger for energy filter, the column changes to "energy filter" and when adding a new trigger a new pop window will appear to select the energy range to help select the energy window, the top mineral drop down menu will bring up reference spectra the mouse can then be used to pan through the spectrum, click and drag, and zoom in and out of a region of interest, mouse wheel to select a region, pan and zoom such that the energy region of interest occupies the whole plot area clicking the "read" option will then use low and high energy limits from the plot area, and the height is the spectra in the plot as the input for energy range and energy height these values can be manually changed by selecting the option to change and typing in the required value for these three filters, the remaining 4 options are the same, with the "state" setting indicating if the setting line is activated or deactivated, which can be useful for templating analysis settings and only using the trigger required for the particular specimen the next setting, min size, will adjust the minimum segment area requirement before the filter is triggered the step size will define the spacing between x ray acquisition points, like matrix mapping mode this setting can be used to either create a fine grid over the segment of interest, i e small step size, or create a single centroid, i e large step size the final setting, ac time, will set the dwell time per point and can be set to a value different from the main analysis to collect a higher total count spectra