Quantitative electron-excited x-ray microanalysis by scanning electron microscopy/silicon drift detector energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (SEM/SDD-EDS) is capable of achieving high accuracy and high precision equivalent to that of the high spectral resolution wavelength dispersive x-ray spectrometer even when severe peak interference occurs. The throughput of the SDD-EDS enables high count spectra to be measured that are stable in calibration and resolution (peak shape) across the full deadtime range. With this high spectral stability, multiple linear least squares peak fitting is successful for separating overlapping peaks and spectral background. Careful specimen preparation is necessary to remove topography on unknowns and standards. The standards-based matrix correction procedure embedded in the NIST DTSA-II software engine returns quantitative results supported by a complete error budget, including estimates of the uncertainties from measurement statistics and from the physical basis of the matrix corrections. NIST DTSA-II is available free for Java-platforms at: http://www.cstl.nist.gov/div837/837.02/epq/dtsa2/index.html).

Date Published: 16 September 2014
PDF: 17 pages
Proc. SPIE 9236, Scanning Microscopies 2014, 92360H (16 September 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2065842

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9236:
Scanning Microscopies 2014
Michael T. Postek; Dale E. Newbury; S. Frank Platek; Tim K. Maugel, Editor(s)