Bruker Esprit stores an EDS map as a .bcf file: a compressed container with the X-ray
spectrum of every pixel (the hypermap), the SEM or STEM images taken with it, the element list
chosen in Esprit and the sum spectrum. This page decodes the hypermap and gives you the maps,
images and spectra as ordinary files, without Esprit.
How to get EDS maps from a BCF file
- Upload the
.bcffile (several at once, or a.zip, also work). - Leave "Elements for EDS maps" empty to use the elements selected in Esprit, or type your
own list, for example
Fe, Cr, Ni, OorPb M. - Download the maps, spectra and images.
What you get
- One map per element and a colour overlay of up to six elements, with a scale bar from the map's pixel size.
- The maps as a TIFF stack and a CSV with the energy window used for each element.
- The sum spectrum of the whole map, a total-counts map, and the sum spectrum Esprit stored in the file.
- The SEM or STEM images recorded with the map, and the overview image if Esprit saved one.
- The data cube (every pixel's spectrum) as an HDF5 (EMD) file for your own analysis in Python or MATLAB, for maps up to 1.5 GB.
- Settings: voltage, magnification, working distance, detector, stage position.
Single spectra saved as .spx are converted to CSV as well.
How the maps are made
Each map adds up the X-rays in a window around the element's main line (K below about 10 keV, otherwise L or M, unless you name a line), twice as wide as a typical EDS peak at that energy. The pictures are lightly smoothed; the TIFF holds the raw counts.
Pitfalls
- These are qualitative maps: there is no background subtraction or peak deconvolution, so overlapping lines (for example S K and Mo L, or Ti K and Ba L) light up both maps.
- Hypermaps stored with 16-bit, 12-bit packed and variable-length packing were tested; the decoded counts match RosettaSciIO, the reader used by HyperSpy.
AZtec .h5oina, EDAX .spd and JEOL .pts maps are read too. For Velox spectrum images see
Velox EMD to TIFF.
More about what this tool reads and writes: Electron Microscopy File Converter (EMD, DM3, DM4, SER, TIFF).