A flexible instrument control and image acquisition system for a scanning electron microscope.

We have developed an instrument control and image acquisition system for use with scanning electron microscopes. By making the system flexible over a wide range of operating voltages, scan generation and image acquisition modes can be easily accommodated to a wide range of instruments. We show the implementation of this system for use with a custom-built low-voltage scanning electron microscope. We then explore the simple modifications that are required for control of two instruments intended for use as free electron lasers.