It is extremely useful to know the origin of a microscopic particle, of a metal powder, of an oxide, of a corrosion product, of a metallic surface finish.

Knowing which elements a fiber, a fragment, a coating, a metal shaving, a non-metallic material, a mineral are made of can help assess the degree of cleanliness/contamination of a sample. By using the SEM+EDS technique we can perform the elemental analysis of fibers, fragments, coatings, metal and non-metal material shavings, medical products and minerals, and we can assess corrosion phenomena via the analysis of corrosion products/oxides. We can analyse microscopic samples using the minute dimensions (a few microns) of the focused ion beam. We can also perform the mapping of the elements of a sample or measure the concentration of a specific element. For an even more detailed analysis we can match IR analysis for the definition of the functional groups with the fingerprint.