ISO 22029:2022

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 22029
Third edition
2022-10
Microbeam analysis — EMSA/MAS
standard file format for spectral-data
exchange
Analyse par microfaisceaux — Format de fichier standard EMSA/MAS
pour échange de données spectrométriques
Reference number
ISO 22029:2022(E)
© ISO 2022

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ISO 22029:2022(E)
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© ISO 2022
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ISO 22029:2022(E)
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 General considerations .1
5 Format description .2
5.1 General . 2
5.2 Required keywords . 3
5.3 Spectral data. 4
5.4 Optional keywords . 5
5.5 Ending A File . 9
6 Examples of data files in the EMSA/MAS spectral format . 9
Bibliography .12
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ISO 22029:2022(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
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ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to
the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 202, Microbeam analysis.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition (ISO 22029:2012), which has been technically
revised.
The main changes are as follows.
— The file encoding in this version has been changed from ASCII to UTF-8. This allows for the use
of non-ASCII characters in specified descriptive fields but still maintains backwards compatibility
with older data reading and writing software since the ASCII coding is a sub-set of the UTF-8 coding.
Most of the keyword value character limits have also been removed in this version. These were
originally imposed to aid readability of files output to teletype printers and are no longer deemed a
necessary restriction.
— The definition of the #OFFSET keyword has been modified to specify that the value of the first
spectral channel is taken from the channel’s mid-point.
— A new required keyword, #TIMEZONE, has been added and the #TIME keyword is now explicitly
required to be local time to ensure that the time and date the data has been recorded can be
unambiguously determined.
— Eight new optional keywords have been added: #ROTATION, #WORKDIST, #CRC32C, ##MNKRESOL,
##SUPPAREA, ##SUPPTHICK, ##SUPPMAT and ##DETPOS.
— The new optional error checking keyword, #CRC32C, has been added to provide a more robust error
checking option than the original #CHECKSUM value.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
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ISO 22029:2022(E)
Introduction
The original EMSA/MAS Standard File Format for Spectral Data Exchange was published in October
1991. Since then, advances in both microbeam analysis techniques and in PC technology have meant
that this original standard is not fully able to meet modern requirements. The members of ISO/TC 202
propose this updated version. Every effort has been made to only make those changes that improve or
update the applicability of the standard, while minimizing incompatibility with the original version.
The remit of TC 202 does not include surface analysis techniques, which are addressed by TC 201, and
so references to these techniques have been removed from the original standard where necessary. The
original document also included examples of coding and telecommunications protocols. Since these are
now largely outdated, and not integral to the formatting of the data, these have also been removed.
It is noted that one of the originating societies (EMSA) has modified its name since the original
document was published. The society is now officially known as the Microscopy Society of America
(MSA), the term “Electron” having been dropped to more fully indicate the work and interest of the
membership of the society in all forms of microscopy.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 22029:2022(E)
Microbeam analysis — EMSA/MAS standard file format for
spectral-data exchange
1 Scope
This document presents a simple format for the exchange of digital spectral data that has been
designated as an EMSA/MAS standard. This format is readable by both humans and computers and
is suitable for transmission through various electronic networks, the phone system (with modems)
or on physical computer storage devices (such as removable media). The format is not tied to any
one computer, programming language or computer operating system. The adoption of a standard
format enables different laboratories to freely exchange spectral data, and helps to standardize data
analysis software. If equipment manufacturers were to support a common format, the microscopy and
microanalysis community would avoid duplicated effort in writing data analysis software.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
No terms and definitions are listed in this document.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
4 General considerations
[1] [2] [3] [4]
The virtues of a single standard data format have been admirably related by various authors , , , .
It would often be convenient, after visiting another laboratory to use a different type of microanalytical
spectrometer, to be able to return to one’s own laboratory to analyse the data, or for a laboratory
to be able to send a spectrum to another group at another location for analysis on their computer. A
common format also enables test spectra to be transported between data acquisition systems, in order
to compare different data analysis routines, and would give users greater choice of analysis procedure,
based on commercial or public-domain software. Most importantly, it offers a method for archiving
data that does not rely on the continued availability of a given item of equipment or version of software
to remain accessible.
An ideal solution is for the manufacturers to represent data in a standard format, but they are unlikely
to agree on this without some direction from their customers (the microanalysis community).
Therefore, it is highly desirable for EMSA and MAS to proceed with the adoption of a standard format.
Such a format does not preclude any research group or manufacturer from having their own, possibly
proprietary, format. Spectral data can be stored internally in any format, as long as there is an option
to convert it to the external standard (and vice versa) for the purposes of exchange. A standard format
should possess the following attributes.
a) It should be capable of representing the data exactly (without altering the scientific content).
b) The format should be simple and easy to use.
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ISO 22029:2022(E)
c) It shall NOT be tied to any particular computer, programming language or operating system. It
should work on a large number of computers of all sizes, although we cannot guarantee that it will
work on all possible computers.
d) The format should be both human and machine (computer) readable.
e) It should be compatible with existing electronic communication networks. Future networks will
likely retain compatibility with these.
f) The format should support spectra of interest to the microanalysis community (such as XEDS,
EELS, AES) and should be flexible enough to accommodate future data sets not yet specified.
g) Each file should contain enough information to uniquely identify the type and origin of the spectral
data and to reconstruct its significance.
h) Where possible, the format should be compatible with various commercial data plotting or analysis
programs (i.e. spreadsheets, or graphical-analysis packages).
i) The proposed format need not be the most efficient storage mechanism. Its primary goals, stated
above, will generally prevent storage efficiency. If anything, this format will err on the side of
simplicity and ease of use.
The format originally employed by the Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis Public Domain Library
[1] [5]
(EMMPDL) at Argonne has the virtue of simplicity, but is too rigid for general use. A recent revision
corrected some inadequacies, but a more serious re-examination is in order. The format proposed by a
[3],[4]
previous EMSA task force addresses many of the problems, but is thought by some microscopists to
[6]
be too complicated for everyday use. The VAMAS format, whose description runs to 60 pages, is also
too complex for the perceived purpose. A format, named JCAMP-DX, used by the infrared-spectroscopy
[2]
community is specific and detailed, but is somewhat off target for the spectroscopies of interest to
the community.
The format proposed here follows JCAMP-DX in many ways but is less complicated and has features
tailored to X-ray, energy-loss and Auger spectroscopies. A preliminary version of this proposal was
circulated to several manufacturers of XEDS systems which have received comments and suggestions,
many of which have been incorporated into this document.
5 Format description
5.1 General
The general structure of the data file format can be summarized as a simple sequential text file using
the UTF-8 encoding. It begins with a series of header lines which serve to define the characteristics of
the spectrum. These header lines are identified by unique keyword fields which occupy the first 15
positions of each line, followed by a data field. These are described in detail in 5.2 to 5.4. After the
header lines, a keyword indicates the start of data, and the data then follow on successive lines in a
manner which is defined explicitly within the header. Finally, after all the data are presented, an end-
of-data keyword indicates that the data set is complete. This is diagrammatically illustrated as follows:
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ISO 22029:2022(E)
Header lines

Successive lines beginning with EMSA/MAS-defined keywords, some of which are required and some
are optional

Start-of-data keyword

Experimental data

End-of-data keyword
In general, each line of the file either contains a keyword and its associated value or spectral data. All
header lines are readily identified as they each begin with “#” in the first character field or column.
This symbol demarks the start of a 13-character keyword field, providing descriptive information
about the data followed by an associated value. EMSA/MAS-defined keywords (whose definition may
be changed only by EMSA/MAS) begin with a single # and occupy the first 13 columns (characters)
of each header line. The keyword itself consists of at most 12 characters, which directly follow the #.
Shorter keywords may be employed, and any remaining spaces following the defined keyword may be
filled with descriptive text such as unit designation for ease of legibility when the file is printed (see
example in Table 9). If a position in the keyword field is not used, it shall be filled with a space character.
The keywords are not case-sensitive, so that #Xunits is interpreted as being the same as #XUNITS.
The 14th and 15th character positions (columns) in each header line are occupied by keyword/value
field separators, which consist of a colon followed by a space. The value associated with each keyword
starts in column 16 and may be either textual or numeric as defined by the keyword. The previous
version of this standard stipulated a line limit of 79 characters for legibility on ‘standard width CRT
screens’ but this is no longer deemed necessary. The end-of-line indicator is a carriage return/linefeed
combination ().
The file encoding shall be UTF-8. However, the only characters allowed in the file, except where
explicitly stated otherwise, are the space (UTF-8 character 32), carriage return (UTF-8 character 13)
and linefeed (UTF-8 character 10) characters, plus the printable UTF-8 character set given as follows:
!”#$%&’()*+,-./0123456789:; < = > ? @ (UTF-8 characters 33 - 64)
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (UTF-8 characters 65 - 90)
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz (UTF-8 characters 97 - 122)
[\] ^_`{|} ~ (UTF-8 characters 91 - 96, UTF-8 123 - 126)
Horizontal TAB characters are NOT permitted in this file format as a substitute for spaces or commas.
Examples of keywords, separators and data can be found in Table 1. The file should be named using the
extension .TXT, .EMSA or .MSA.
5.2 Required keywords
The following keywords are required and shall appear at the beginning of the file, in the order specified
in Table 1. Although some of these may appear arbitrary, it is judged that they fulfil a long-term need.
After several years of students and outside users passing through a laboratory, the result can be a vast
number of data files of unknown origin. Unless some adequate form of labelling is imposed from the
start, many worthwhile data files are lost, and useless data sit on a disc taking up valuable space. With
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ISO 22029:2022(E)
the following minimum subset of keywords, it should be possible to reconstruct the significance of most
spectra.
Note that there shall be exactly one of each required keyword, except for the keyword #TITLE which
shall appear at least once but may, at the user’s discretion, appear more than once to provide an
extended- length title.
Table 1 — Required keywords
#FORMAT Character string identifies this format as
“EMSA/MAS Spectral Data File”
#VERSION File Format Version Number (TC202v3.0 for
...