SPECIFIC FEATURES OF ULTRASOFT X-RAY BREMSSTRAHLUNG ON SCATTERING OF INTERMEDIATE ENERGY ELECTRONS BY ARGON ATOMS

The differential spectra of bremsstrahlung on scattering of intermediate energy (0.3–2 keV) electrons by Ar atoms are studied. The measurements are made in the 6.5–10 nm ultrasoft X-ray region (the photon energy region 190.8–124 eV), where the dynamic polarizability of an Ar atom is low. For each of the wavelengths studied it is found that as the electron energy is increased from 0.3 to 0.7 keV, the bremsstrahlung intensity increases first in direct proportion to the square root of the scattered electron energy and then decreases in inverse proportion to it on subsequent rise in the energy from 0.8 to 2 keV. The increase in the bremsstrahlung intensity with electron energy is explained in terms of the low-energy approximation by the contributions of the opened channels of atom excitation and ionization that accompany the braking effect.

Consistency Checks for X-Ray Microanalysis at Low KV

This work proposes a new consistency check total based on measurement of bremsstrahlung intensity which can be used to validate analyses even when concentrations have been normalised to 100%.If elemental content of a material is unknown, spectral peaks have to be identified, either interactively, or by automatic procedures. When peak overlap is severe (e.g. Si K/ Ta M / W M, Al K/Br L), it is easy for an element to be misidentified or missed altogether and at low beam kV, some elements will not even produce a characteristic line suitable for analysis. When element identification or quantification requires deconvolution of closely spaced lines, minor miscalibration or inaccurate peak modelling produces inaccurate peak area estimates, Ai, instead of true peak areas, Ai*, and consequently inaccurate concentration estimates, Ci* . A common consistency check is to confirm that the analysis total is close to unity: