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Measurement and Calculation of X-Ray Production Efficiencies for Copper, Zirconium, and Tungsten

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2022

Mathias Procop Open the ORCID record for Mathias Procop [Opens in a new window]  and
Ralf Terborg
Mathias Procop*
Affiliation:
Division 6.1 Surface Analysis and Interfacial Chemistry, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin 12205, Germany
Ralf Terborg
Affiliation:
Bruker Nano GmbH, Am Studio 2D, Berlin 12489, Germany
*
*Corresponding author: Mathias Procop, E-mail: edxconsult.procop@gmx.de
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Abstract

Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) is based on physical relations between measured X-ray intensities of characteristic lines and their X-ray production efficiency, which depends on the specimen composition. The quality of the analysis results relies on how realistically the physical relations describe the generation and emission of X-rays. Special experiments are necessary to measure X-ray production efficiencies. A challenge in these experiments is the determination of the detection efficiency of the spectrometer as a function of the photon energy. An energy-dispersive spectrometer was used in this work, for which the efficiency was determined at metrological synchrotron beamlines with an accuracy of ±2%. X-ray production efficiencies for the L series and the Kα series of copper and zirconium and for the M and L series of tungsten were determined at energies up to 30 keV in a scanning electron microscope. These experimental values were compared with calculated X-ray production efficiencies using physical relations and material constants applied in EPMA. The objective of the comparison is the further improvement of EPMA algorithms as well as extending the available database for X-ray production efficiencies. Experimental data for the X-ray production efficiency are also useful for the assessment of spectrum simulation software.

Keywords

copperelectron probe microanalysistungstenX-ray production efficiencyzirconium
Type
Materials Science Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 28 , Issue 6 , December 2022 , pp. 1865 - 1877
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Microscopy Society of America

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Footnotes

†

Retired.

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