A Survey of Electron Probe Microanalysis Using Soft Radiations: Difficulties and Presentation of a New Computer Program for Wavelength Dispersive Spectrometry

Authors

M. Fialin, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
J. Hénoc, CAMECA, France
G. Remond, BRGM, France

Abstract

This paper aims to demonstrate that on-line peak integral technique with wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) provides accurate results with intensity measurement counting times as short as one or two minutes, owing to the high counting rates obtained with multilayer analyzers. A great advantage of a new computer program using this technique (available on SUN/UNIX work-stations operating Cameca SX-50 microprobes) consists in the original way that peak overlaps are treated. For each analytical point, overlapping counts emerging from an element B (B counts) are removed on-line from the measured raw counts in order to obtain the net counts corresponding to the element to be analyzed (element A). B counts are first measured on a proper standard containing B but not A.

The effects of chemical bonding on the shape and the shift of peaks is clearly seen in the analysis of fluorine in topaz and lithium fluoride. Self-absorption effects, which usually distort the high energy side of L-series soft radiations, are generally inconsistent with the direct measurements of peak area fork-ratio determination. A method based on the conventional area/peak factor concept is proposed for this purpose.

Recommended Citation

Fialin, M.; Hénoc, J.; and Remond, G. (1993) "A Survey of Electron Probe Microanalysis Using Soft Radiations: Difficulties and Presentation of a New Computer Program for Wavelength Dispersive Spectrometry," Scanning Microscopy: Vol. 1993: No. 7, Article 11.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/microscopy/vol1993/iss7/11