What is EDS?

EDS is an analytical technique used for the elemental analysis or chemical characterization of samples. Elemental information is obtained by measuring the energy and intensity distribution of X-ray signals generated when the SEM focused electron beam interacts with the specimen. The information obtained can be displayed as a graph in which the position of an energy peak is characteristic of an element and the height of the peak indicates the abundance of this element in the sample. It is also possible to map the elements found in an SEM image by EDS.