X‐Ray Microanalysis

Abstract

SUMMARY Over the past 30 years the electron probe microanalyser has progressed from a laboratory concept to a highly sensitive and well‐engineered instrument in use in various forms all over the world. Ellis Cosslett has been associated with this development for 25 of these years, with a particularly fruitful period in his laboratory during the late 1950s and the decade following. The subject has always illustrated well the interdisciplinary nature of instrument development, with the engineering design complemented by the physical theory of analysis and by the user disciplines represented in its application. This paper traces briefly some of the developments in the technique at various stages from designer to end‐user, with particular reference to the part played by Cosslett's laboratory and by others in the Cambridge area.

X-ray microanalysis of thin film layered specimens containing light elements

“…Inadequate deconvolution of the N Ke and Ti Le peaks, due to the relative closeness of their X-ray energies (AE = 60 eV) and the sensitivity of the deconvolution routine to calibration drift [14], also represents a significant source of error. Differences in the relative absorption of the L0~ and Lf lines by nitrogen [15] may lead to distortion of the Ti La peak profile, which actually corresponds to the broadened envelope of the (unresolved) L series. For these reasons, presumably, a better fit was obtained by excluding this peak from the iterative calculation.…”

Effective absorption correction for energy dispersive X‐ray mapping in a scanning transmission electron microscope: analysing the local indium distribution in rough samples of InGaN alloy layers

“…Elemental maps show the spatial distribution of chemical elements in an unknown sample. Elemental mapping in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) can be performed by energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDXS) (Watanabe et al ., ), electron energy‐loss spectroscopy (EELS) (Colliex et al ., ) or even wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) although the latter is better and more commonly applied to bulk samples in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) (Duncumb, ). If spectra are recorded and evaluated at each pixel net intensity maps of the distribution of chemical elements can thus be obtained after background subtraction.…”