Target Mineral Quant (TMQ)

13 min

One of the most powerful features of AMICS is its ability to link x-ray chemical analysis to a spatial location on any specimen. The Target Mineral Quant (TMQ) function leverages this to perform corrected quantification at the particle or grain level, providing detailed understanding of elemental deportment.

Key capabilities:

Filter and sort grains to create summed spectra per grain

Export grain tables with coordinates and elemental composition

Align with fiducial points for integration with third-party tools (LA-ICP-MS, SIMS)

Accessing TMQ

Open TMQ via the TMQ tab above the main data visualization panel. The TMQ ribbon context tab appears with dedicated controls.

{{FIG: TMQ tab showing filtered grains in upper panel, rejected grains in lower panel, and filter parameters on the right | TMQ tab overview}}

Filter Parameters

Filter grains by the following criteria:

Filter	Description
Having Material	Isolate grains containing one or more specified materials
Minimum Area	Grains with total area greater than this value (µm²)
Maximum Area	Grains with total area less than this value (µm²)
Minimum BSE	Grains with average BSE greater than this value
Maximum BSE	Grains with average BSE less than this value
Min Radius (µm)	Grains with radius greater than this value (farthest distance from centroid)
Filter by Count	Enable filtering by minimum grain count of target material per particle
Mineral Count	Minimum number of target material grains required in a particle

Click Filter! to apply. Grains passing the filter appear in the upper panel; rejected grains appear in the lower panel.

Chemistry Types (New in 5.1)

Select the chemistry display mode from the TMQ ribbon → Quantification panel → Type dropdown:

Type	Description
Weight %	Elemental weight percent (default)
Atomic %	Elemental atomic percent
Weight Oxide	Oxide weight percent using oxide formulas from the Materials Library

Quantification

Note: Post-processing quantification requires Bruker Esprit software running in the background.

Load quantification methods: References tab → Quantification → Update Method List

Select the recipe from the EDS Methods dropdown on the TMQ ribbon

Click Quant Selected (selected grains only) or Quant All (all filtered grains)

Results appear as additional element columns in the Quantification Result panel

Normalization

Enable the Normalize checkbox to normalize elemental concentrations to 100%.

Decimal Precision

Adjust decimal places using the Decimal Point field on the TMQ ribbon.

Quantification Result Panel

Column	Description
Center Position	Cartesian coordinate of the calculated centroid based on x-ray point positions
Center Reference	Alternative coordinate for fiducial-point realignment with third-party tools
Aspect Ratio	Shape factor — ratio of minimum to maximum orthogonal diameter
Area (Pixels)	Number of pixels within the grain/particle
BSE (Max)	Highest BSE value measured across all pixels
Xrays	Number of x-ray points used to calculate the summed spectrum
Total Count	Total count of the summed spectrum
Element columns	Quantified element concentrations (after Quant is run)

Reticle Controls

The reticle marks the target collection location on each grain. Control from the TMQ ribbon → Reticle panel:

Button	Action
Move Up / Down / Left / Right	Nudge the reticle position

The reticle auto-fits to the position covering the maximum number of x-ray points.

Undo and Redo (New in 5.1)

Undo/redo for reject operations: TMQ ribbon → Reject panel → Undo / Redo buttons.

Action	Description
Previous / Next	Navigate between grains
Focus	Center view on selected grain
Toggle Mark	Mark or unmark current grain
Pick / Unpick	Select or deselect current grain
Inverse Selection	Invert selection
Deselect All	Clear all selections
Ctrl+E	Export data to CSV/TSV

Export Options

Export from the TMQ ribbon → Export Options panel:

Button	Description
Selected Spectra	Export SPX spectra for selected grains
All Spectra	Export SPX spectra for all filtered grains
Selected Images	Export particle images for selected grains
All Images	Export particle images for all filtered grains
Data Export	Export results table as CSV/TSV (Ctrl+E)
Object Name	Include grain names in export

Data can also be copied to clipboard using the copy button on the Quantification Result panel.

Sending Particles to TMQ

From the Feature Grid, right-click selected particles → Send Selected Particles to TMQ.

Saving and Restoring Filter Parameters

Save Search! — Save current filter parameters with a name

Restore Search! — Load previously saved parameters

Parameters are stored as JSON. When transferring between measurements, ensure both use the same Classification Workflow, as material IDs are workflow-specific.

Integration with LA-ICP-MS

TMQ integrates with third-party analytical tools via fiducial points:

Mark fiducial points on the specimen in AMICS Investigator

Run measurement and apply TMQ filtering

Export grain coordinates with fiducial reference points

Import coordinates into LA-ICP-MS or SIMS software for targeted analysis

See [Fiducial Points] for setup instructions.