Patent ID: 8279225

Claim:
An element mapping apparatus comprising: an excitation source that irradiates excitation particles on a sample; a detector that detects characteristic information of elements of the sample emitted from the sample; an analyzer that obtains the concentration of each kind of element on the basis of the characteristic information to the elements; a data storage device that obtains and stores an element mapping image by matching the concentration of each kind of element with a measured pixel position, the element mapping image comprising a first element mapping image for a first element and a first analysis line and a second element mapping image for a second element and a second analysis line, the first element mapping image depicting the sample with distribution of the first element with a predetermined view and the second element mapping image depicting the sample with distribution of the second element with the predetermined view, whereby information on the sample is obtained without disassembling the sample; and an image display device that displays distribution screens showing the element mapping image; wherein the distribution screens having the same size overlap with and are superimposed on one another, and the distribution screens are sequentially switched such that the first element mapping image is selected, displayed and overwritten by the second element mapping image whereby difference between element distribution states in the element mapping images can be recognized.