A Parameterless Method to Correct for X-Ray Absorption and Fluorescence I N Thin Film Microanalysis

Abstract

In the present contribution a method is presented which enables to perform absorption and fluorescence corrections in X-ray spectroscopy of transparent specimens. The method is based on several measurement at different sites of the same specimen, but does not require input parameters or coefficients. Moreover the possibility to deduce the mass thickness in every analysed area from the acquired experimental data will be discussed

The parameterless correction method in X-ray microanalysis

“…With equations (15) and (16) a completely analogous derivation is possible as with equations (3) and (7). The intensity of two elements A and B now reads :…”

“…1. -Secondary or fluorescence radiation in wedge shaped targets (Cu-50at% Cr) [4]. The slope of the curves in the origin (0,0) is directly proportional with the wedge angle a.…”

“…Computer simulations of this secondary radiation in wedge shaped specimens revealed that this polynomial in T without constant term, is smooth and that the first or linear term is directly proportional with the wedge angle a [4,5]. To evaluate this influence of the specimen shape on the secondary emission, simulations for a Cu-50 at% Cr alloy are shown in figure 1 for diflerent wedge angles (a = 0°, 10°, 20°, 30° and 40°).…”

“…Tb overcome the practical problems enumerated above an alternative correction procedure has been developed capable of correcting for absorption and for fluorescence to a large extend and was called the parameterless correction method [6][7][8]. 2 Equation (3) can also be expanded in a power series in T and in the case of wedge shaped specimens, computer simulations showed that the linear term is proportional to the wedge angle [5].…”

On the secondary X-ray emission induced by electron irradiation in thin samples

“…The normals of the tilted wedge are found by applying a double rotation transformation (Van Cappellen et aL [8] ) :…”