Recipe documentation

[mkitti]

This discussion thread is meant to document the recipe content. The recipe is saved as part of the DAT file.

Within the DAT header is a 64-bit big endian signed integer at byte offset 1000 for an attribute called FileLength. This value indicates the end of the image data and also where additional recipe information may be stored. FileLength differs from the actual length of the file.

Besides being saved in binary format at the end of the DAT file, the recipe information may also be saved as a CSV file.

[mkitti]

Here is a picture of the strings used when the recipe is converted to a CSV file.

SEM X size (um)
SEM Y size (um)
SEM X center (um)
SEM Y center (um)
SEM X size (V)
Frames
X tiles
Y tiles
Overlap (um)
dX (um)
dY (um)
SEM Scan rate (Hz)
SEM pixel size (nm)
Frame line rampdown ratio
SEM oversampling
SEM X stig
SEM Y stig
SEM X aperture align
SEM Y aperture align
SEM WD (mm)
X size auto
SEM oversampling auto
Interlaced
Brightness A
Contrast A
Detector B name
Brightness B
Contrast B
GetInfo
Set Det A para
Set WD
Set Mag
Set stig
Set aperture align
Display
Save
8-bit
Detector A
Detector B
Detector C
Detector D
Inverse A
Inverse B
Inverse C
Inverse D
Inverse PNG
Freeze
PNG only
Upload
Delete after upload
Keep Aspect Ratio
Show Focus Index
Primary grid at center
X grids
Y grids
Primary X grid
Primary Y grid
Images fit to
File path
Notes
Sample ID
Low mag scan
Prior to main scan
per # of images
Low mag scan FOV (um)
Low mag scan rate (Hz)
Show high mag box
Mid mag scan
MM Prior to main scan
MM per # of images
MM X resolution
MM Y resolution
MM X center
MM Y center
MM scan rate (Hz)
MM pixel size (nm)
Show mid mag box
FIB-SEM angle
Milling X resolution
Milling Z resolution
Milling X offset (um)
Milling Z offset (um)
Milling X center (um)
Milling Z center (um)
Milling X size (um)
Milling Z size (um)
Upper left angle (deg)
Upper right angle (deg)
Milling line milling time (s)
Z-step (nm)
Milling lines auto pause
Milling auto pause
Mill from bottom
FIB FOV (um)
Auto Profile
FIB PID On
FIB PID measured
FIB PID target
FIB PID target slope
FIB PID P
FIB PID I
FIB PID D
Emission min (uA)
Suppressor min (V)
Auto Reheat
FI Detector
Auto Optimization
Images per Auto
AF Range (nm)
AF Steps
AS Range (%)
AS Steps
AA Range (%)
AA Steps
X shift (nm/frame)
Y shift (nm/frame)
FIB Z zoom pixel (nm)
Mail server
Email alert recipients
3D imaging pause alarm
FIB emission limit warning
Low limit
High limit
Specimen @ SEM alarm
FIB CL current alarm
Beam Dump 1 alarm
Milling Z voltage alarm
EHT off alarm
Detector over scale warning
Image clipping alarm
Warning limit (um)
Stop limit (um)
Temperature alarm
Pause 3D-ING
Low limit (F)
High limit (F)
Temp limit auto
Temperature range (F)
Gradient limit (F/min)
SW error warning
Focus index warning
Focus index low limit
Focus index stop limit
Run Auto Stig
FI low limit auto
FI stop limit auto
FIB reheat filament I (uA)
FIB reheat time (s)
FIB emission target (uA)
Calculate V/I slope
Pre-calc delay (min)
Disable reheat retries
Restore voltages
Start FIB HV Datalog
FIB HV Datalog interval (s)

[mkitti]

Here is the next part of the sequence when when CSV writing mode:

[mkitti]

Here is the front panel which summarizes the values that are read or written by the recipe.

[mkitti]

There are 5 different versions of the "output". When reading the recipe in from a DAT file, the software will try to read them in this order:

• output 4
• output 3
• output 2
• output 1
• output

Show below is the configuration when reading output 2.

[mkitti]

Here is the configuration when reading output 4:

[mkitti]

Configuration when reading output 3

[mkitti]

See above for the configuration when reading output 2.

Configuration when reading output 1:

`

[mkitti]

Configuration when reading output. It is just a straight through pass.

[mkitti]

The documentation for the I/O sequence is as follows:
https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/labview/page/glang/open_create_replace_file.html
https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/labview/page/glang/set_file_position.html
https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/labview/page/glang/read_file.html
https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/labview/page/glang/to_variant.html
https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/labview/page/glang/variant_to_data.html
https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/labview/page/glang/build_array.html
https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/labview/page/glang/boolean_array_to_number.html

Essentially the code is as follows:
0. Read in recipe path, check if the recipe path does not end in CSV

1. Open the DAT file
2. Seek to byte offset 1000
3. Read a 64-bit integer, FileLength
4. Seek to FileLength
5. Attempt to read output 4 (boolean array to num: 1)
6. Attempt to read output 3 (boolean array to num: 2)
7. Attempt to read output 2 (boolean array to num: 4)
8. Attempt to read output 1 (boolean array to num: 8)
9. Attempt to read output (boolean array to num: 16)
10. If boolean array to num is 0, then open a dialog saying "File does not contain a valid recipe"

[mkitti]

The variant binary format is discussed in this thread:
https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Format-of-the-variant-in-binary-file/td-p/2114958